Search

Rationale: The associations between ambient coarse particulate matter (PM 2.5-10 ) and daily mortality are not fully understood on a global scale. Objectives: To evaluate the short-term associations between PM 2.5-10 and total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality across multiple countries/regions worldwide. Methods: We collected daily mortality (total, cardiovascular, and respiratory) and air pollution data from 205 cities in 20 countries/regions. Concentrations of PM 2.5-10 were computed as the difference between inhalable and fine PM. A two-stage time-series analytic approach was applied, with overdispersed generalized linear models and multilevel meta-analysis. We fitted two-pollutant models to test the independent effect of PM 2.5-10 from copollutants (fine PM, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide). Exposure-response relationship curves were pooled, and regional analyses were conducted. Measurements and Main Results: A 10 μg/m 3 increase in PM 2.5-10 concentration on lag 0-1 day was associated with increments of 0.51% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.18%-0.84%), 0.43% (95% CI, 0.15%-0.71%), and 0.41% (95% CI, 0.06%-0.77%) in total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. The associations varied by country and region. These associations were robust to adjustment by all copollutants in two-pollutant models, especially for PM 2.5 . The exposure-response curves for total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality were positive, with steeper slopes at lower exposure ranges and without discernible thresholds. Conclusions: This study provides novel global evidence on the robust and independent associations between short-term exposure to ambient PM 2.5-10 and total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, suggesting the need to establish a unique guideline or regulatory limit for daily concentrations of PM 2.5-10 .

Background: Increased mortality risk is associated with short-term temperature variability. However, to our knowledge, there has been no comprehensive assessment of the temperature variability-related mortality burden worldwide. In this study, using data from the MCC Collaborative Research Network, we first explored the association between temperature variability and mortality across 43 countries or regions. Then, to provide a more comprehensive picture of the global burden of mortality associated with temperature variability, global gridded temperature data with a resolution of 0·5° × 0·5° were used to assess the temperature variability-related mortality burden at the global, regional, and national levels. Furthermore, temporal trends in temperature variability-related mortality burden were also explored from 2000-19., Methods: In this modelling study, we applied a three-stage meta-analytical approach to assess the global temperature variability-related mortality burden at a spatial resolution of 0·5° × 0·5° from 2000-19. Temperature variability was calculated as the SD of the average of the same and previous days' minimum and maximum temperatures. We first obtained location-specific temperature variability related-mortality associations based on a daily time series of 750 locations from the Multi-country Multi-city Collaborative Research Network. We subsequently constructed a multivariable meta-regression model with five predictors to estimate grid-specific temperature variability related-mortality associations across the globe. Finally, percentage excess in mortality and excess mortality rate were calculated to quantify the temperature variability-related mortality burden and to further explore its temporal trend over two decades., Findings: An increasing trend in temperature variability was identified at the global level from 2000 to 2019. Globally, 1 753 392 deaths (95% CI 1 159 901-2 357 718) were associated with temperature variability per year, accounting for 3·4% (2·2-4·6) of all deaths. Most of Asia, Australia, and New Zealand were observed to have a higher percentage excess in mortality than the global mean. Globally, the percentage excess in mortality increased by about 4·6% (3·7-5·3) per decade. The largest increase occurred in Australia and New Zealand (7·3%, 95% CI 4·3-10·4), followed by Europe (4·4%, 2·2-5·6) and Africa (3·3, 1·9-4·6)., Interpretation: Globally, a substantial mortality burden was associated with temperature variability, showing geographical heterogeneity and a slightly increasing temporal trend. Our findings could assist in raising public awareness and improving the understanding of the health impacts of temperature variability., Funding: Australian Research Council, Australian National Health & Medical Research Council., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and mortality widely differs between as well as within countries. Differences in PM2.5 composition can play a role in modifying the effect estimates, but there is little evidence about which components have higher impacts on mortality., Methods: We applied a 2-stage analysis on data collected from 210 locations in 16 countries. In the first stage, we estimated location-specific relative risks (RR) for mortality associated with daily total PM2.5 through time series regression analysis. We then pooled these estimates in a meta-regression model that included city-specific logratio-transformed proportions of seven PM2.5 components as well as meta-predictors derived from city-specific socio-economic and environmental indicators., Results: We found associations between RR and several PM2.5 components. Increasing the ammonium (NH4+) proportion from 1% to 22%, while keeping a relative average proportion of other components, increased the RR from 1.0063 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.0030, 1.0097) to 1.0102 (95% CI = 1.0070, 1.0135). Conversely, an increase in nitrate (NO3-) from 1% to 71% resulted in a reduced RR, from 1.0100 (95% CI = 1.0067, 1.0133) to 1.0037 (95% CI = 0.9998, 1.0077). Differences in composition explained a substantial part of the heterogeneity in PM2.5 risk., Conclusions: These findings contribute to the identification of more hazardous emission sources. Further work is needed to understand the health impacts of PM2.5 components and sources given the overlapping sources and correlations among many components., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Urban areas in the Brazilian Amazon have grown at an unprecedented rate during the last years. About 90% of the wastewater produced by these urban areas are discharged untreated into Amazonian freshwater ecosystems, constituting a potential environmental pathway for pharmaceuticals and other chemicals consumed by modern societies (e.g. psychostimulants, personal-care products, hormones). The distribution of these chemicals into the Amazon River and their potential risks for freshwater biodiversity have not been evaluated so far. Here, we show the results of the largest chemical monitoring campaign conducted in the Amazon region. We assessed exposure patterns for 43 pharmaceuticals and other urban contaminants in 40 sampling sites distributed along the Amazon River, three major tributaries (Negro, Tapajós and Tocantins Rivers), and four large cities of the Brazilian Amazon (Manaus, Santarém, Macapá, Belém). We assessed risks for freshwater biodiversity using species sensitivity distributions and mixture toxicity approaches. We found that urban areas constitute important hot-spots for chemical contamination, with mixtures containing up to 40 different compounds and exposure concentrations reaching the world's maxima for some of them. We show that chemical pollution can result in long-term effects for up to 50-80% of aquatic species next to urban areas. Moreover, we identified several ubiquitous compounds which can be used as tracers of anthropogenic pressure in the Amazon basin. We conclude that the chemical burden created by urbanization significantly contributes to a biodiversity loss in the region and should be further controlled., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

We conducted a small-area ecological longitudinal study to analyze neighborhood contextual influences on the spatio-temporal variations in intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) risk in a southern European city over an eight-year period. We used geocoded data of IPVAW cases with associated protection orders (n = 5867) in the city of Valencia, Spain (2011-2018). The city's 552 census block groups were used as the neighborhood units. Neighborhood-level covariates were: income, education, immigrant concentration, residential instability, alcohol outlet density, and criminality. We used a Bayesian autoregressive approach to spatio-temporal disease mapping. Neighborhoods with low levels of income and education and high levels of residential mobility and criminality had higher relative risk of IPVAW. Spatial patterns of high risk of IPVAW persisted over time during the eight-year period analyzed. Areas of stable low risk and with increasing or decreasing risk were also identified. Our findings link neighborhood disadvantage to the existence and persistence over time of spatial inequalities in IPVAW risk, showing that high risk of IPVAW can become chronic in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Our analytic approach provides specific risk estimates at the small-area level that are informative for intervention purposes, and can be useful to assess the effectiveness of prevention efforts in reducing IPVAW., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The COVID-19 pandemic has escalated into one of the largest crises of the 21st Century. The new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, responsible for COVID-19, has spread rapidly all around the world. The Spanish Government was forced to declare a nationwide lockdown in view of the rapidly spreading virus and high mortality rate in the nation. This study investigated the impact of short-term lockdown during the period from March 15th to April 12th 2020 on the atmospheric levels of CO, SO 2 , PM 10 , O 3 , and NO 2 over 11 representative Spanish cities. The possible influence of several meteorological factors (temperature, precipitation, wind, sunlight hours, minimum and maximum pressure) on the pollutants' levels were also considered. The results obtained show that the 4-week lockdown had significant impact on reducing the atmospheric levels of NO 2 in all cities except for the small city of Santander as well as CO, SO 2 , and PM 10 in some cities, but resulted in increase of O 3 level., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

The planning and location of resources for urban traffic management generate complex decision problems, given the uncertainty of variables that explain traffic behavior, the lack of data, and the large number of factors to be considered when creating optimal policies. In particular, the attention given to traffic-related accidents by local authorities requires the modeling and forecasting of events that are spatial and temporally defined. In this study we use data from the traffic police department in Bogota (Colombia) about incidents with injuries or fatalities between 2014 and 2016. We locate each event in spatial coordinates and crossed the observations with exogenous variables (climate, seasonal events and road properties). We model the spatiotemporal stochastic process for accidents using a Log-Gaussian Cox model given its flexibility as it enables the use of fixed and random effects. The results of this study are summarized in three main contributions: (i) identification of principal factors that increase the risk of traffic accidents and fatalities; (ii) identification of critical zones in the city that require more attention; and (iii) a predictive tool to forecast accidents in the future, including the stochastic properties that can be used in a prescriptive model., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: There is strong experimental evidence that physiologic stress from high temperatures is greater if humidity is higher. However, heat indices developed to allow for this have not consistently predicted mortality better than dry-bulb temperature., Objectives: We aimed to clarify the potential contribution of humidity an addition to temperature in predicting daily mortality in summer by using a large multicountry dataset., Methods: In 445 cities in 24 countries, we fit a time-series regression model for summer mortality with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) for temperature (up to lag 3) and supplemented this with a range of terms for relative humidity (RH) and its interaction with temperature. City-specific associations were summarized using meta-analytic techniques., Results: Adding a linear term for RH to the temperature term improved fit slightly, with an increase of 23% in RH (the 99th percentile anomaly) associated with a 1.1% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.8, 1.3] decrease in mortality. Allowing curvature in the RH term or adding terms for interaction of RH with temperature did not improve the model fit. The humidity-related decreased risk was made up of a positive coefficient at lag 0 outweighed by negative coefficients at lags of 1-3 d. Key results were broadly robust to small model changes and replacing RH with absolute measures of humidity. Replacing temperature with apparent temperature, a metric combining humidity and temperature, reduced goodness of fit slightly., Discussion: The absence of a positive association of humidity with mortality in summer in this large multinational study is counter to expectations from physiologic studies, though consistent with previous epidemiologic studies finding little evidence for improved prediction by heat indices. The result that there was a small negative average association of humidity with mortality should be interpreted cautiously; the lag structure has unclear interpretation and suggests the need for future work to clarify. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP5430.