Is COPD mortality in South China causally linked to the long-term PM 1 exposure? Evidence from a large community-based cohort.

Background: Long-term ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure has been found associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality in an increasing body of research. However, limited evidence was available on the potential causal links between PM ₁ and COPD mortality, especially in highly exposed areas.
Objectives: To examine the COPD mortality risk following long-term ambient PM ₁ exposure in south China.
Methods: The cohort included 580,757 participants recruited during 2009-2015. Satellite-based annual concentrations of PM ₁ were estimated at a spatial resolution of 1 km × 1 km and assigned to each participant based on their residential addresses. We analyzed the potential causal links between time-varying PM ₁ exposure and COPD mortality using marginal structural cox models within causal frameworks. Stratified analyses were also performed to identify the potential susceptible groups.
Results: The annual average PM ₁ concentration continuously decreased over time. After adjusting for confounders, each 1 μg/m ³ increase in PM ₁ concentration corresponded to an 8.1 % (95% confidence interval: 6.4-9.9 %) increment in the risk of COPD mortality. The impact of PM ₁ was more pronounced among the elderly and those with low exercise frequency, with a 1.9-6.9 % higher risk than their counterparts. We further observed a 0.1-9.7 % greater risk among those who lived in lower greenness settings. Additionally, we observed higher effect estimates in participants with long-term low PM ₁ exposure compared to the general population.
Conclusions: COPD mortality risk significantly increased following long term ambient PM ₁ exposure, particularly among groups with certain demographics or long-term low exposure.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)