European Community's Seventh Framework Programme.

Background: Long-term exposure to air pollution has been hypothesized to elevate arterial blood pressure (BP). The existing evidence is scarce and country specific.Objectives: We investigated the cross-sectional association of long-term traffic-related air pollution with BP and prevalent hypertension in European populations.Methods: We analyzed 15 population-based cohorts, participating in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). We modeled residential exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen oxides with land use regression using a uniform protocol. We assessed traffic exposure with traffic indicator variables. We analyzed systolic and diastolic BP in participants medicated and nonmedicated with BP-lowering medication (BPLM) separately, adjusting for personal and area-level risk factors and environmental noise. Prevalent hypertension was defined as ≥ 140 mmHg systolic BP, or ≥ 90 mmHg diastolic BP, or intake of BPLM. We combined cohort-specific results using random-effects meta-analysis.Results: In the main meta-analysis of 113,926 participants, traffic load on major roads within 100 m of the residence was associated with increased systolic and diastolic BP in nonmedicated participants [0.35 mmHg (95% CI: 0.02, 0.68) and 0.22 mmHg (95% CI: 0.04, 0.40) per 4,000,000 vehicles × m/day, respectively]. The estimated odds ratio (OR) for prevalent hypertension was 1.05 (95% CI: 0.99, 1.11) per 4,000,000 vehicles × m/day. Modeled air pollutants and BP were not clearly associated.Conclusions: In this first comprehensive meta-analysis of European population-based cohorts, we observed a weak positive association of high residential traffic exposure with BP in nonmedicated participants, and an elevated OR for prevalent hypertension. The relationship of modeled air pollutants with BP was inconsistent.Citation: Fuks KB, Weinmayr G, Foraster M, Dratva J, Hampel R, Houthuijs D, Oftedal B, Oudin A, Panasevich S, Penell J, Sommar JN, Sørensen M, Tittanen P, Wolf K, Xun WW, Aguilera I, Basagaña X, Beelen R, Bots ML, Brunekreef B, Bueno-de-Mesquita HB, Caracciolo B, Cirach M, de Faire U, de Nazelle A, Eeftens M, Elosua R, Erbel R, Forsberg B, Fratiglioni L, Gaspoz JM, Hilding A, Jula A, Korek M, Krämer U, Künzli N, Lanki T, Leander K, Magnusson PK, Marrugat J, Nieuwenhuijsen MJ, Östenson CG, Pedersen NL, Pershagen G, Phuleria HC, Probst-Hensch NM, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Schaffner E, Schikowski T, Schindler C, Schwarze PE, Søgaard AJ, Sugiri D, Swart WJ, Tsai MY, Turunen AW, Vineis P, Peters A, Hoffmann B. 2014. Arterial blood pressure and long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution: an analysis in the European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). Environ Health Perspect 122:896–905; http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1307725

Our study is based on individual data on people's home and work addresses, as well as their age, sex and physical capacity, in order to establish realistic bicycle-travel distances. A transport model is used to single out data on commuting preferences in the County Stockholm. Our analysis shows there is a very large potential for reducing emissions and exposure if all car drivers living within a distance corresponding to a maximum of a 30min bicycle ride to work would change to commuting by bicycle. It would result in >111,000 new cyclists, corresponding to an increase of 209% compared to the current situation. Mean population exposure would be reduced by about 7% for both NO and black carbon (BC) in the most densely populated area of the inner city of Stockholm. Applying a relative risk for NO of 8% decrease in all-cause mortality associated with a 10μgm decrease in NO, this corresponds to >449 (95% CI: 340-558) years of life saved annually for the Stockholm county area with 2.1 million inhabitants. This is more than double the effect of the reduced mortality estimated for the introduction of congestion charge in Stockholm in 2006. Using NO or BC as indicator of health impacts, we obtain 395 (95% CI: 172-617) and 185 (95% CI: 158-209) years of life saved for the population, respectively. The calculated exposure of BC and its corresponding impacts on mortality are likely underestimated. With this in mind the estimates using NO, NO and BC show quite similar health impacts considering the 95% confidence intervals.

Background:Long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) in ambient air has been associated with cardiovascular mortality, but few studies have considered incident disease in relation to PM from different sources.Objectives:We aimed to study associations between long-term exposure to different types of PM and sources, and incident ischemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke in three Swedish cities.Methods:Based on detailed emission databases, monitoring data, and high-resolution dispersion models, we calculated source contributions to PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤10μm (PM10), PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5μm (PM2.5), and black carbon (BC) from road wear, traffic exhaust, residential heating, and other sources in Gothenburg, Stockholm, and Umeå. Registry data for participants from four cohorts were used to obtain incidence of IHD and stroke for first hospitalization or death. We constructed time windows of exposure for same-year, 1- to 5-y, and 6- to 10-y averages preceding incidence from annual averages at residential addresses. Risk estimates were based on random effects meta-analyses of cohort-specific Cox proportional hazard models.Results:We observed 5,166 and 3,119 incident IHD and stroke cases, respectively, in 114,758 participants. Overall, few consistent associations were observed between the different air pollution measures and IHD or stroke incidence. However, same-year levels of ambient locally emitted BC (range: 0.01−4.6 μg/m3) were associated with a 4.0% higher risk of incident stroke per interquartile range (IQR), 0.30 μg/m3 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.04, 7.8]. This association was primarily related to BC from traffic exhaust. PM10 (range: 4.4−52 μg/m3) and PM2.5 (range: 2.9−22 μg/m3) were not associated with stroke. Associations with incident IHD were observed only for PM2.5 exposure from residential heating.Discussion:Few consistent associations were observed between different particulate components and IHD or stroke. However, long-term residential exposure to locally emitted BC from traffic exhaust was associated with stroke incidence. The comparatively low exposure levels may have contributed to the paucity of associations. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP4757

BackgroundEpidemiological evidence on the association between ambient air pollution and brain tumor risk is sparse and inconsistent.MethodsIn 12 cohorts from 6 European countries, individual estimates of annual mean air pollution levels at the baseline residence were estimated by standardized land-use regression models developed within the ESCAPE and TRANSPHORM projects: particulate matter (PM) ≤2.5, ≤10, and 2.5–10 μm in diameter (PM2.5, PM10, and PMcoarse), PM2.5 absorbance, nitrogen oxides (NO2 and NOx) and elemental composition of PM. We estimated cohort-specific associations of air pollutant concentrations and traffic intensity with total, malignant, and nonmalignant brain tumor, in separate Cox regression models, adjusting for risk factors, and pooled cohort-specific estimates using random-effects meta-analyses.ResultsOf 282194 subjects from 12 cohorts, 466 developed malignant brain tumors during 12 years of follow-up. Six of the cohorts also had data on nonmalignant brain tumor, where among 106786 subjects, 366 developed brain tumor: 176 nonmalignant and 190 malignant. We found a positive, statistically nonsignificant association between malignant brain tumor and PM2.5 absorbance (hazard ratio and 95% CI: 1.67; 0.89–3.14 per 10–5/m3), and weak positive or null associations with the other pollutants. Hazard ratio for PM2.5 absorbance (1.01; 0.38–2.71 per 10–5/m3) and all other pollutants were lower for nonmalignant than for malignant brain tumors.ConclusionWe found suggestive evidence of an association between long-term exposure to PM2.5 absorbance indicating traffic-related air pollution and malignant brain tumors, and no association with overall or nonmalignant brain tumors.