High Ambient Temperatures and Risk of Motor Vehicle Crashes in Catalonia, Spain (2000-2011): A Time-Series Analysis.

Background: Experimental studies have shown a decrease in driving performance at high temperatures. The epidemiological evidence for the relationship between heat and motor vehicle crashes is not consistent.

Objectives: We estimated the impact of high ambient temperatures on the daily number of motor vehicle crashes and, in particular, on crashes involving driver performance factors (namely distractions, driver error, fatigue, or sleepiness).

Heat waves and cause-specific mortality at all ages.

Background: Mortality has been shown to increase with extremely hot ambient temperatures. Details on the specific cause of mortality can be useful for improving preventive policies. Infants are often identified as a population that is vulnerable to extreme heat conditions; however, information on heat and infant mortality is scarce, with no studies reporting on cause-specific mortality.

Monitoring of heavy metal concentrations in home outdoor air using moss bags.

One monitoring station is insufficient to characterize the high spatial variation of traffic-related heavy metals within cities. We tested moss bags (Hylocomium splendens), deployed in a dense network, for the monitoring of metals in outdoor air and characterized metals' long-term spatial distribution and its determinants in Girona, Spain. Mosses were exposed outside 23 homes for two months; NO₂ was monitored for comparison.

Local determinants of road traffic noise levels versus determinants of air pollution levels in a Mediterranean city.

Background: Both traffic-related noise and air pollution have been associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD). Spatial correlations between these environmental stressors may entail mutual confounding in epidemiological studies investigating their long-term effects. Few studies have investigated their correlation - none in Spain - and results differ among cities.

The impact of heat waves on mortality in 9 European cities: results from the EuroHEAT project.

Background: The present study aimed at developing a standardized heat wave definition to estimate and compare the impact on mortality by gender, age and death causes in Europe during summers 1990-2004 and 2003, separately, accounting for heat wave duration and intensity.

Methods: Heat waves were defined considering both maximum apparent temperature and minimum temperature and classified by intensity, duration and timing during summer. The effect was estimated as percent increase in daily mortality during heat wave days compared to non heat wave days in people over 65 years.

Who is more vulnerable to die from ozone air pollution?

Background: Daily increases in ambient ozone have been associated with increased mortality. However, little is known about which subpopulations are more susceptible to death related to ozone.

Methods: We conducted a case-only study in 48 US cities to identify subpopulations particularly vulnerable to ozone air pollution.

Residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution and survival after heart failure.

Background: Although patients with heart failure (HF) have been identified as particularly susceptible to the acute effects of air pollution, the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on patients with this increasingly prevalent disease are largely unknown.

Objective: This study was designed to examine the mortality risk associated with residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution among HF patients.

Methods: A total of 1,389 patients hospitalized with acute HF in greater Worcester, Massachusetts, during 2000 were followed for survival through December 2005.

Extreme temperatures and mortality: assessing effect modification by personal characteristics and specific cause of death in a multi-city case-only analysis.

Background: Extremes of temperature are associated with short-term increases in daily mortality.

Objectives: We set out to identify subpopulations and mortality causes with increased susceptibility to temperature extremes.

Methods: We conducted a case-only analysis using daily mortality and hourly weather data from 50 U.

The effect of ozone and PM10 on hospital admissions for pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a national multicity study.

A case-crossover study was conducted in 36 US cities to evaluate the effect of ozone and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of < or =10 microm (PM10) on respiratory hospital admissions and to identify which city characteristics may explain the heterogeneity in risk estimates. Respiratory hospital admissions and air pollution data were obtained for 1986-1999. In a meta-analysis based on the city-specific regression models, several city characteristics were evaluated as effect modifiers.