Respiratory risks from household air pollution in low and middle income countries.

A third of the world's population uses solid fuel derived from plant material (biomass) or coal for cooking, heating, or lighting. These fuels are smoky, often used in an open fire or simple stove with incomplete combustion, and result in a large amount of household air pollution when smoke is poorly vented. Air pollution is the biggest environmental cause of death worldwide, with household air pollution accounting for about 3·5-4 million deaths every year.

The effects of air pollution on adverse birth outcomes.

Background: Air pollution has been shown to have adverse effects on many health outcomes including cardiorespiratory diseases and cancer. However, evidence on the effects of prenatal exposure is still limited. The purpose of this retrospective cohort study is to evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure to air pollutants including particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.

Health benefits of improving air quality in Taiyuan, China.

Since 2000, the government in Shanxi province has mounted several initiatives and mandated factory shutdowns with the goal of reducing coal burning emissions and the environmental impacts of industrialization. We estimated the health benefits associated with air quality improvement from 2001 to 2010 in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and monetized the health benefits using value of statistical life (VOSL). Data were collected on annual average concentrations of particulate matter less than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and relevant health outcomes in Taiyuan from 2001 to 2010.

Ozone and daily mortality rate in 21 cities of East Asia: how does season modify the association?

Previous studies in East Asia have revealed that the short-term associations between tropospheric ozone and daily mortality rate were strongest in winter, which is opposite to the findings in North America and Western Europe. Therefore, we investigated the season-varying association between ozone and daily mortality rate in 21 cities of East Asia from 1979 to 2010. Time-series Poisson regression models were used to analyze the association between ozone and daily nonaccidental mortality rate in each city, testing for different temperature lags.

Temperature-related mortality in 17 large Chinese cities: how heat and cold affect mortality in China.

Few multicity studies have been conducted to investigate the acute health effects of cold and hot temperatures in China. We aimed to examine the relationship between temperature and daily mortality in 17 large Chinese cities. We first calculated city-specific effect of temperature using time-series regression models combined with distributed lag nonlinear models; then we pooled the city-specific estimates with the Bayesian hierarchical models.

PM2.5 constituents and hospital emergency-room visits in Shanghai, China.

Although ambient PM2.5 has been linked to adverse health effects, the chemical constituents that cause harm are largely unclear. Few prior studies in a developing country have reported the health impacts of PM2.

Extreme temperatures and out-of-hospital coronary deaths in six large Chinese cities.

Background: The seasonal trend of out-of-hospital coronary death (OHCD) and sudden cardiac death has been observed, but whether extreme temperature serves as a risk factor is rarely investigated. We therefore aimed to evaluate the impact of extreme temperatures on OHCDs in China. We obtained death records of 126,925 OHCDs from six large Chinese cities (Harbin, Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing, Shanghai and Guangzhou) during the period 2009-2011.

Global, regional, and national incidence and mortality for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: The Millennium Declaration in 2000 brought special global attention to HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria through the formulation of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 6. The Global Burden of Disease 2013 study provides a consistent and comprehensive approach to disease estimation for between 1990 and 2013, and an opportunity to assess whether accelerated progress has occured since the Millennium Declaration.

Methods: To estimate incidence and mortality for HIV, we used the UNAIDS Spectrum model appropriately modified based on a systematic review of available studies of mortality with and without antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Effects of meteorological factors on daily hospital admissions for asthma in adults: a time-series analysis.

Background: There is limited evidence for the impacts of meteorological changes on asthma hospital admissions in adults in Shanghai, China.

Objectives: To quantitatively evaluate the short-term effects of daily mean temperature on asthma hospital admissions.

Methods: Daily hospital admissions for asthma and daily mean temperatures between January 2005 and December 2012 were analyzed.

Temporal relationship between hospital admissions for pneumonia and weather conditions in Shanghai, China: a time-series analysis.

Objectives: To explore the association between weather conditions and hospital admissions for pneumonia in Shanghai.

Design: A time-series analysis was performed for a period of 4 years (January 2008-December 2011). A generalised additive model was used to calculate the relative risks.

Acute effects of diurnal temperature range on mortality in 8 Chinese cities.

Diurnal temperature range (DTR) is a meteorological indicator closely associated with global climate change. There have been no multicity studies in China addressing the DTR-related health impact. We hypothesized that an increase of DTR is associated with higher daily mortality with a potential lag of effect, and investigated the acute effects of DTR on total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in 8 large Chinese cities from 2001 to 2010.

Acute effects of air pollution on asthma hospitalization in Shanghai, China.

Air pollution has been accepted as an important contributor to asthma development and exacerbation. However, the evidence is limited in China. In this study, we investigated the acute effect of air pollution on asthma hospitalization in Shanghai, China.

Ambient air pollution and daily outpatient visits for cardiac arrhythmia in Shanghai, China.

Background: Cardiac arrhythmias are cardiac rhythm disorders that comprise an important public health problem. Few prior studies have examined the association between ambient air pollution and arrhythmias in general populations in mainland China.

Methods: We performed a time-series analysis to investigate the short-term association between air pollution (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 µm [PM10], sulfur dioxide [SO2], and nitrogen dioxide [NO2]) and outpatient visits for arrhythmia in Shanghai, China.

Global, regional, and national levels and causes of maternal mortality during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013.

Background: The fifth Millennium Development Goal (MDG 5) established the goal of a 75% reduction in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR; number of maternal deaths per 100,000 livebirths) between 1990 and 2015. We aimed to measure levels and track trends in maternal mortality, the key causes contributing to maternal death, and timing of maternal death with respect to delivery.

Methods: We used robust statistical methods including the Cause of Death Ensemble model (CODEm) to analyse a database of data for 7065 site-years and estimate the number of maternal deaths from all causes in 188 countries between 1990 and 2013.

Public health benefits of reducing air pollution in Shanghai: a proof-of-concept methodology with application to BenMAP.

In recent years, levels of particulate matter (PM) air pollution in China have been relatively high, exceeding China's Class II standards in many cities and impacting public health. This analysis takes Chinese health impact functions and underlying health incidence, applies 2010-2012 modeled and monitored PM air quality data, and estimates avoided cases of mortality and morbidity in Shanghai, assuming achievement of China's Class II air quality standards. In Shanghai, the estimated avoided all cause mortality due to PM10 ranged from 13 to 55 cases per day and from 300 to 800 cases per year.

An integrated risk function for estimating the global burden of disease attributable to ambient fine particulate matter exposure.

Background: Estimating the burden of disease attributable to long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in ambient air requires knowledge of both the shape and magnitude of the relative risk (RR) function. However, adequate direct evidence to identify the shape of the mortality RR functions at the high ambient concentrations observed in many places in the world is lacking.

Particulate air pollution and mortality in a cohort of Chinese men.

Few prior cohort studies exist in developing countries examining the association of ambient particulate matter (PM) with mortality. We examined the association of particulate air pollution with mortality in a prospective cohort study of 71,431 middle-aged Chinese men. Baseline data were obtained during 1990-1991.

Impact of haze and air pollution-related hazards on hospital admissions in Guangzhou, China.

Guangzhou is a metropolitan in south China with unique pollutants and geographic location. Unlike those in western countries and the rest of China, the appearance of haze in Guangzhou is often (about 278 days per year on average of 4 years). Little is known about the influence of these hazes on health.

Source, distribution, and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban street dust from Tianjin, China.

To better assess and understand potential health risk of urban residents exposed to urban street dust, the total concentration, sources, and distribution of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in 87 urban street dust samples from Tianjin as a Chinese megacity that has undergone rapid urbanization were investigated. In the meantime, potential sources of PAHs were identified using the principal component analysis (PCA), and the risk of residents' exposure to PAHs via urban street dust was calculated using the Incremental Lifetime Cancer Risk (ILCR) model. The results showed that the total PAHs (∑PAHs) in urban street dust from Tianjin ranged from 538 μg kg(-1) to 34.

Health effects of air pollution on length of respiratory cancer survival.

Background: Air pollution has been extensively and consistently linked with mortality. However, no study has investigated the health effects of air pollution on length of survival among diagnosed respiratory cancer patients.

Methods: In this study, we conducted a population-based study to investigate if air pollution exposure has adverse effects on survival time of respiratory cancer cases in Los Angeles (LA), CA and Honolulu, HI.

High temperature as a risk factor for infectious diarrhea in Shanghai, China.

Background: Recent studies indicate that ambient temperature could be a risk factor for infectious diarrhea, but evidence for such a relation is limited in China.

Methods: We investigated the short-term association between daily temperature and physician-diagnosed infectious diarrhea during 2008-2010 in Shanghai, China. We adopted a time-series approach to analyze the data and a quasi-Poisson regression model with a natural spline-smoothing function to adjust for long-term and seasonal trends, as well as other time-varying covariates.