Disease burden of ischaemic heart disease from short-term outdoor air pollution exposure in Tianjin, 2002-2006

Aims To obtain a reliable estimation of the health impact of air pollution, we explored the effects of air pollutants on years of life lost from ischaemic heart disease in Tianjin, China. Methods and results We conducted a retrospective ecological analysis using daily time series set in six urban districts in Tianjin. Our data included 28,365 ischaemic heart disease deaths registered in 2002-2006. The main outcome measures were years of life lost and deaths from ischaemic heart disease. We found mean concentrations of daily particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 mu m in size (PM10), sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide of 125.6 mu g/m(3), 78.7 mu g/m(3), 55.1 mu g/m(3), respectively. Interquartile range increases of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were associated with increases in years of life lost from ischaemic heart disease of 13.8, 4.8 and 22.7 years in single pollutant models, respectively. The effects associated with an interquartile range increase in PM10 were greater in women than men. During the 5 years, there were 27,485 years and 1252 deaths advanced by PM10 pollution over expected rates when daily levels did exceed the World Health Organization air quality guidelines. That is to say, on average, 63.12 hours per person were lost by air pollution in the 5-year period in Tianjin. Conclusions Short-term exposure to air pollution has a significant impact on ischaemic heart disease years of life lost and mortality in Tianjin, particularly among women. Air quality improvement has become necessary to protect public health.