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Residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution and survival after heart failure
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

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

Mercedes Medina-Ramón, Robert Goldberg, Steven Melly, Murray A Mittleman and Joel Schwartz
Environmental health perspectives, v 116(4), pp 481-485
01 Apr 2008
PMID: 18414630
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.10918View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Aged Air Pollutants - toxicity Air Pollution - adverse effects Environmental Exposure - adverse effects Female Heart Failure - mortality Humans Insurance Claim Review Male Motor Vehicles Prognosis Proportional Hazards Models Residence Characteristics - statistics & numerical data
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. This study was designed to examine the mortality risk associated with residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution among HF patients. A total of 1,389 patients hospitalized with acute HF in greater Worcester, Massachusetts, during 2000 were followed for survival through December 2005. We used daily traffic within 100 and 300 m of residence as well as the distance from residence to major roadways and to bus routes as proxies for residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution. We assessed mortality risks for each exposure variable using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for prognostic factors. After the 5-year follow-up, only 334 (24%) subjects were still alive. An interquartile range increase in daily traffic within 100 m of home was associated with a mortality hazard ratio (HR) of 1.15 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05-1.25], whereas for traffic within 300 m this association was 1.09 (95% CI, 1.01-1.19). The mortality risk decreased with increasing distance to bus routes (HR = 0.88; 95% CI, 0.81-0.96) and was larger for those living within 100 m of a major roadway or 50 m of a bus route (HR = 1.30; 95% CI, 1.13-1.49). Adjustment for area-based income and educational level slightly attenuated these associations. Residential exposure to traffic-related air pollution increases the mortality risk after hospitalization with acute HF. Reducing exposure to traffic-related emissions may improve the long-term prognosis of HF patients.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Toxicology
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