Ambient Air Pollution and Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest in Beijing, China.

Ruixue Xia,Xueying Li,Guopeng Zhou,Tong Zhu,Guangfa Wang

doi:10.3390/ijerph14040423

Abstract

Air pollutants are associated with cardiovascular death; however, there is limited evidence of the effects of different pollutants on out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) in Beijing, China. We aimed to investigate the associations of OHCAs with the air pollutants PM2.5–10 (coarse particulate matter), PM2.5 (particles ≤2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3) between 2013 and 2015 using a time-stratified case-crossover study design. We obtained health data from the nationwide emergency medical service database; 4720 OHCA cases of cardiac origin were identified. After adjusting for relative humidity and temperature, the highest odds ratios of OHCA for a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 were observed at Lag Day 1 (1.07; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.04–1.10), with strong associations with advanced age (aged ≥70 years) (1.09; 95% CI: 1.05–1.13) and stroke history (1.11; 95% CI: 1.06–1.16). PM2.5–10 and NO2 also showed significant associations with OHCAs, whereas SO2, CO, and O3 had no effects. After simultaneously adjusting for NO2 and SO2 in a multi-pollutant model, PM2.5 remained significant. The effects of PM2.5 in the single-pollutant models for cases with hypertension, respiratory disorders, diabetes mellitus, and heart disease were higher than those for cases without these complications; however, the differences were not statistically significant. The results support that elevated PM2.5 exposure contributes to triggering OHCA, especially in those who are advanced in age and have a history of stroke.

Highlights

Cardiac arrest is defined as the cessation of cardiac mechanical activity and the subsequent cessation of blood circulation [1] and mostly occurs outside hospitals [2]
Recent epidemiological evidence has shown that increased sudden cardiovascular mortality is associated with high air pollution levels [6]; of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) may be an important part of the
By analyzing the incidence of OHCA in this study, we found that air pollutants levels were significantly associated with OHCA events (Figure 2)

Summary

Introduction

Cardiac arrest is defined as the cessation of cardiac mechanical activity and the subsequent cessation of blood circulation [1] and mostly occurs outside hospitals [2]. Despite extensive spending in an effort to introduce novel devices and drugs, the low survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) (

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