Is Cardiovascular and Respiratory Mortality Related to PM10 in Puerto Rico?

Abstract

ISEE-657 Objective: The impact of air pollution in health was studied for some years. The knowledge acquired from this years related Cardiovascular and Respiratory mortality and morbidity to exposure to Particulate Matter (PM10) was continually growing. Nevertheless, the effects of PM10 on Cardiovascular and Respiratory mortality in adults are not well understood in Puerto Rico. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between cardiovascular and respiratory 6 days accumulated deaths and the standardized PM10 levels for all the Puerto Rico municipalities who had PM10 monitoring stations in 1997 and 1998. Materials and Methods: An ecological study was done using mortality data from Puerto Rico Department of Health and PM10 data from Environmental Protection Agency. A Multilevel Poisson Regression Model was performed with 2 levels to consider the time variation in each municipality studied. A ratio of Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMRs) was done to test our objective. Results: Puerto Rico municipalities with high PM10 concentrations (>50 μg/m3) had higher SMRs for cardiovascular and respiratory mortality than those with smaller PM10 concentrations (<50 μg/m3). Cataño and Guaynabo Municipalities had the higher SMRs (P <0.05) for cardiovascular mortality in adults above 65 years. After adjusting for municipality, we compared PM10 levels and cardiovascular mortality. We found in the 65 years and older group, that cardiovascular diseases presented a mean mortality excess of 9% (95% CI: 1%–17%). In the respiratory deaths, we founded that the excess in the mortality was 31% [95% CI: 2%–68%] in the 18–64 years group. Conclusions: We found a mean cardiovascular mortality excess of 9% in the 65 years or older group of the municipalities studied. In addition, we found a mean respiratory mortality excess of 31% in the 18–64 years group. Our findings document consistency and coherence with other published epidemiological studies.