ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Relative Risk of Total and Cardiovascular
Mortality in the Eldery as Related to Short-Term
Increases of PM2.5 Concentrations in Ambient Air
Małgorzata Kowalska1, Michał Skrzypek2, Felix Danso1, Joanna Kasznia-Kocot3
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1Department of Epidemiology, Medical University of Silesia,
Medyków 18, Katowice 40-752, Poland
2Department of Biostatistics, Medical University of Silesia,
Piekarska 18, Bytom 41-902, Poland
3Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University of Silesia,
Piekarska 18, Bytom 41-902, Poland
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(5):1279-1285
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ABSTRACT
The aim of our study was to assess the impact of short-term ultrafine particle concentration changes in
ambient air to daily total and cardiovascular mortality in the older population (65 years and above) living in
Zabrze, a city located in the Silesia Region of Poland. The measure of this relationship was the relative risk
(RR) of daily mortality related to a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations.
It was determined during the study period from 2000-05 that 6,378 people aged 65 and above died in
Zabrze. Cardiovascular diseases accounted for 61.9% of the total mortality during the same study period. The
highest daily mortality was seen during the winter, which was more than the other remaining seasons. The relative
risk of total and cardiovascular mortality were 1.004 (95%CI:-1.003-1.010) and 1.002 (95%CI:-1.011-
1.015), respectively. It was also shown that the risk increased with longer exposure times, with the highest
value of RR related to two weeks exposure of the population.
The daily risk of cardiovascular mortality in Zabrze, related to PM2.5 concentrations, is similar to values
given by other authors. The obtained results suggest that longer exposures expressed by moving average concentration,
from 3-days to 14-days, contribute to the highest risk of cardiovascular mortality in older inhabitants.