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Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Incidence of Myocardial Infarction: A Danish Nurse Cohort Study

J. Cramer, J. Jørgensen, B. Hoffmann, S. Loft, E. V. Bräuner, E. Prescott, M. Ketzel, O. Hertel et al.

Environmental Health Perspectives, 2020

22,882 participants · 52 citations

Abstract

Background: Air pollution exposure has been linked to coronary heart disease, although evidence on PM2.5 and myocardial infarction (MI) incidence is mixed. Objectives: This prospective cohort study aimed to investigate associations between long-term exposure to air pollution and MI incidence, adjusting for road traffic noise. Methods: We used data from the nationwide Danish Nurse Cohort on 22,882 female nurses (>44 years of age) who, at recruitment in 1993 or 1999, reported information on cardiovascular disease risk factors. Data on MI incidence was collected from the Danish National Patient Register until the end of 2014. Annual mean concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with a diameter <2.5 μg/m3 (PM2.5), PM10, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) at the nurses’ residences since 1990 (PM10 and PM2.5) or 1970 (NO2 and NOx) were estimated using the Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model/Urban Background Model/AirGIS (DEHM/UBM/AirGIS) dispersion model. We used time-varying Cox regression models to examine the association between 1- and 3-y running means of these pollutants, as well as 23-y running means of NO2 and NOx, with both overall and fatal incident MI. Associations were explored in three progressively adjusted models: Model 1, adjusted for age and baseline year; Model 2, with further adjustment for potential confounding by lifestyle and cardiovascular disease risk factors; and Model 3, with further adjustment for road traffic noise, modeled as the annual…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a cohort study, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 22,882 participants or records.

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