Fine and coarse particulate air pollution and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest onset: a nationwide case-crossover study in China

Abstract

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is a global public health concern. Nationwide studies on the effects of short-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) on OHCA risk are rare in regions with high PM levels, and evidence for coarse PM (PM2.5–10) is limited and inconsistent. To evaluate the associations between fine PM (PM2.5) and PM2.5–10 and OHCA onset, a time-stratified case-crossover study was conducted on 77,261 patients with cardiac OHCA in 26 cities across China in 2020. Daily PM2.5 and PM2.5–10 concentrations were assessed with high-resolution and full-coverage PM estimations. Conditional logistic regression models were applied in analyses. Each interquartile range of PM increase in 3-day moving average was associated with an increased risk of cardiac OHCA onset of 2.37% (95% CI, 1.20–3.56%) for PM2.5 and 2.12% (95% CI, 0.70–3.56%) for PM2.5–10. Stratified analyses showed higher susceptibility in patients over 75 years for PM2.5 exposure and with diabetes for PM2.5–10. This first nationwide study in region with high PM levels and great PM variability found not only PM2.5 but also PM2.5–10 were associated with a higher risk of OHCA onset, which could add powerful epidemiological evidence to this field and provide new evidence for the formulation of air quality guidelines.