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Short-term effect of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone on daily mortality in Lisbon, Portugal

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Abstract

Introduction

Urban ambient air pollution exposures continue to be a global public health concern. Although air quality targets are often exceeded in Lisbon, the largest city in Portugal, there is currently no study that has assessed the quantitative impact of these pollutants on daily mortality.

Materials and method

In this study, we conduct a time series analysis using generalized additive modeling to determine the exposure-response effect from ambient ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations on daily mortality in Lisbon. The dataset used was limited to the Lisbon municipality and for the period 2004–2006.

Results and conclusion

For PM2.5 exposures, we found that the relative risk for cardiovascular mortality in the population group ≥65 years is 2.39% (95%C.I. 1.29%, 3.50%) for each 10 μg/m3 increase. A statistically significant cause–effect relationship for PM2.5 and mortality was not observed in other population groups. We also report O3 exposures to be associated with an increase of 1.11% (95%C.I. (0.58, 1.64)) for all-cause mortality in the population group ≥65 years and an increase of 0.96% (95%C.I. (0.56, 1.35)) for the general population. When analyzing by cause of death, our results showed a stronger association between O3 exposure and cardiovascular mortality.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this study was provided by the EU FP6 Project 2FUN (contract no. 036976).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation Research Group (CCIAM), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL), Edifício C1, Sala 1.4.39 Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisbon, Portugal

    Pedro Garrett & Elsa Casimiro

  2. INFOTOX-Environmental Risk Consultants, Ltd. Parque das Nações, Lisbon, Portugal

    Elsa Casimiro

Authors
  1. Pedro Garrett
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  2. Elsa Casimiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elsa Casimiro.

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Responsible editor: Euripides Stephanou

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Garrett, P., Casimiro, E. Short-term effect of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone on daily mortality in Lisbon, Portugal. Environ Sci Pollut Res 18, 1585–1592 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0519-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0519-z

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