Abstract
Background: Long time exposure to particular matter has been linked to myocardial infarction, stroke and blood pressure, but its association with atherosclerosis is not clear. This meta-analysis was aimed at assessing whether PM2.5 and PM10 have an effect on subclinical atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). Methods: Pubmed, Ovid Medline, Embase and NICK between 1948 and 31 March 2015 were searched by combining the keywords about exposure to the outcome related words. The random-effects model was applied in computing the change of CIMT and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The effect of potential confounding factors was assessed by stratified analysis and the impact of traffic proximity was also estimated. Results: Among 56 identified studies, 11 articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. In overall analysis increments of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5 and PM10 were associated with an increase of CIMT (16.79 μm; 95% CI, 4.95–28.63 μm and 4.13 μm; 95% CI, −5.79–14.04 μm, respectively). Results shown in subgroup analysis had reference value for comparing with those of the overall analysis. The impact of traffic proximity on CIMT was uncertain. Conclusions: Exposure to PM2.5 had a significant association with CIMT and for women the effect may be more obvious.
Highlights
The association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or their risk factors has been demonstrated by a great number of epidemiological and experimental studies [1,2,3,4,5,6]
This study is, to our knowledge, the first meta-analysis which estimates the effects of exposure to particular matter (PM2.5, PM10) on carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), an accepted measure of the progression of atherosclerosis [27,28]
An interdecile range increase in PM2.5 (4.2 μg/m3), PM10 (6.7 μg/m3), and distance to high traffic (1939 m) were associated with a 4.3%, 1.7%, and 1.2% increase in CIMT, respectively; The other one is in the USA [15]: Intimal-medial thickness was weakly, positively associated with exposures to particulate matter
Summary
The association between air pollution (especially particular matter) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) or their risk factors has been demonstrated by a great number of epidemiological and experimental studies [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Atherosclerosis is a chronic process and mainly affects the aorta, coronary artery and cerebral artery, which often leads to serious consequences like lumen occlusion and plaque rupture. It is the major pathological process of heart disease and stroke. Long time exposure to particular matter has been linked to myocardial infarction, stroke and blood pressure, but its association with atherosclerosis is not clear. This meta-analysis was aimed at assessing whether PM2.5 and PM10 have an effect on subclinical atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT)
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