Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution has been associated with mortality in urban cohort studies. Few studies have investigated this association in large-scale population registries, including non-urban populations.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the associations between long-term exposure to air pollution and nonaccidental and cause-specific mortality in the Netherlands based on existing national databases.
Methods: We used existing Dutch national databases on mortality, individual characteristics, residence history, neighborhood characteristics, and national air pollution maps based on land use regression (LUR) techniques for particulates with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Using these databases, we established a cohort of 7.1 million individuals ≥ 30 years of age. We followed the cohort for 7 years (2004–2011). We applied Cox proportional hazard models adjusting for potential individual and area-specific confounders.
Results: After adjustment for individual and area-specific confounders, for each 10-μg/m3 increase, PM10 and NO2 were associated with nonaccidental mortality [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.08; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.09 and HR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.03, respectively], respiratory mortality (HR = 1.13; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.17 and HR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01, 1.03, respectively), and lung cancer mortality (HR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.21, 1.30 and HR = 1.10 95% CI: 1.09, 1.11, respectively). Furthermore, PM10 was associated with circulatory disease mortality (HR = 1.06; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.08), but NO2 was not (HR = 1.00; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.01). PM10 associations were robust to adjustment for NO2; NO2 associations remained for nonaccidental mortality and lung cancer mortality after adjustment for PM10.
Conclusions: Long-term exposure to PM10 and NO2 was associated with nonaccidental and cause-specific mortality in the Dutch population of ≥ 30 years of age.
1National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands; 2Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands; 3MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom; 4Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland; 5University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Recommended Citation:
Paul H. Fischer,1 Marten Marra,1 Caroline B. Ameling,et al. Air Pollution and Mortality in Seven Million Adults: The Dutch Environmental Longitudinal Study (DUELS)[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2015-01-01,Volume 123(Issue 7):697