Exposure to coarse particles (PM10-2.5) was associated with right-ventricular effects in the heart of susceptible participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. Right-ventricular dysfunction (and enlargement) is a common sequela of chronic respiratory disease. This analysis was based on 5-year exposures calculated through land-use regression models, and magnetic resonance images from 1,490 adult participants. An Read More
Tag: air pollution
Traffic and fatty liver disease
Proximity to major roadways was associated with fat accumulation in the liver, in a recently published study from the Harvard Clean Air Research Center. Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (hepatic steatosis) is a common condition, closely linked with indicators of cardiometabolic syndrome (cardiovascular disease and insulin resistance). Over 2,000 participants from the Framingham Offspring Study and Read More
Wildfires and respiratory hospitalization
Exposure to wildfire-specific PM2.5 was associated with increased respiratory hospitalization. In a study with the Medicare population in the Western United States, researchers from the Harvard Clean Air Research Center estimated exposures to wildfire-specific PM2.5 using a global chemical transport model, between 2004 and 2009. About 5 million Medicare participants were exposed to at least Read More
PM2.5 effects below standards
Exposure to PM2.5 at level near or below existing National Ambient Air Quality Standards was associated with increased hospital admissions in a population of Medicare enrollees. Analyzing records of 32,119 people in 5,138 ZIP codes in the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey between 2002 and 2010, researchers part of the Harvard ACE Center found that average Read More
Carpet materials, ozone and aldehydes
Different carpet materials vary considerably in their ability to remove ozone from indoor environments, as well as in their emissions of aldehydes. Researchers at Portland State University and the University of Arizona tested new carpet samples in a glass chamber and measured ozone removal and emissions of aldehydes, both primary (from the carpet itself) and Read More
Air pollution, oxidative stress, and CVD
Oxidative stress was found to be associated with short-term exposure to air pollution in a community study reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Although the association has been reported in limited controlled exposure studies, researchers at the Harvard Clean Air Research Center (83479801) observed that exposure to PM2.5, Black carbon (BC), and Read More
Clean energy and health effects of air pollution
Clean energy and fuel sales influenced the association between exposure to PM2.5 and diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure in Canada. In a study of 117 Canadian health regions (excluding the far north) between 2007 and 2014, researchers examined the cross-sectional association between exposure to PM2.5 derived from satellite remote sensing observations, and health endpoints Read More
Decline in PM emissions
Emissions of PM2.5 in the Northeastern US have declined by 18% between 2002 and 2013, based on an analysis of satellite data, primarily from urban areas. A paper from researchers at the Harvard Clean Air Research center and ACE center that applied the Particle Emission Inventories using Remote sensing (PEIRS) methodology shows spatial (at 1×1 Read More
Noise, air pollution, and cardiometabolic disease
A 2-part review on the association between noise and air pollution and cardio-metabolic disease (part 1, part 2) has been published in the European Heart Journal. The first part of the review focuses on the epidemiological evidence linking noise and air pollution with cardiovascular and metabolic disease. In particular, the evidence for interaction between these Read More