The effect of particulate matter size on cardiovascular health in Taipei Basin, Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: Although the overall effect of particulate matter (PM) on cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been previously documented, the effect of different PM sizes (PM10 , PM2.5-10 and PM2.5 ) has not been well studied. This study estimates the effect of different PM sizes on the incidence of CVD in Taipei, Taiwan.

METHODS: We collected outpatients with CVD from 2006 to 2010 and data on the concentrations of air pollutants such as PM10 , PM2.5-10 , PM2.5 , sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. A Distributed Lag Non-linear Model (DLNM) was used to explore the effect of different PM sizes on CVD risk.

RESULTS: In high air pollution events, PM2.5 was significantly associated with elevated risk (4.9%) [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.010-1.089] for CVD with increasing interquartile range (IQR) in single air pollutant model. PM2.5-10 and PM10 did not show a significant positive association with CVD in this study. After adjusting for other air pollutants such as SO2 , CO, NO2 , and O3 , the estimated effect of PM2.5 only decreased 0.2%. Moreover, patients under 40 years old did not show a significant association between PM2.5 and CVD.

CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that only PM2.5 is significantly positively correlated with the number of daily outpatient visits for CVD during high air pollution events.