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Do associations between airborne particles and daily mortality in Mexico City differ by measurement method, region, or modeling strategy?

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 14, pages 429–439 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

We evaluated whether associations between PM10 and daily mortality in Mexico City differ by the PM10 measurement device or by regional differences in particle composition. Additionally, we reanalyzed previously collected data in light of recent insights about flaws in commonly used time series analysis techniques. We examined daily associations between mortality and four indicators of ambient PM10 using Poisson regression, controlling for temperature and time trends with cubic natural splines. Associations were calculated for five subregions corresponding to five monitoring sites and pooled for the entire metropolitan area. PM10 was measured with three methods: Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM), Sierra–Anderson High Volume (Hi-Vol) and Harvard Impactor (HI), the latter only at one site. In addition, predicted values of daily PM10 were developed using the Hi-Vol measurements, which were taken every sixth day, and weather, visibility and other pollutant data. We assigned deaths to the exposure from the monitor nearest to their residence. We also re-evaluated the HI PM2.5 and mortality association in southwest Mexico City, which was estimated previously using nonparametric statistical models. Slight decreases in effect estimates were observed (a 1.45% increase (95% CI: 0.09%, 2.83%) in total mortality per 10 μg/m3 increment of PM2.5 at lag 0) compared to a 1.68% change (95% CI: 0.45%, 2.93%) using the previously employed nonparametric approach. Using data pooled over all the regions, PM10 measured by the TEOM and the predicted PM10 values showed little association with mortality at any of the lags examined. The pooled estimates for Hi-Vol PM10 (using one sixth of the data) were positive across all lags examined and significant for lags 3 and 5. No consistent patterns of differing associations were seen across regions that would correspond with particle toxicity or composition. Particulate air pollution, measured with gravimetric methods, is associated with daily mortality and presents a risk to health in Mexico City. The reanalysis suggests that previous research is robust to statistical method and likely to yield the same overall conclusions about the short-term effects of airborne particles on mortality.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Roberto Muñoz, José Luis Lezama, Victor Torres, Jean Keller, Lawrence Park, Pablo Cicero, Armando Retama, Carl Shy, Doug Dockery, Antonella Zanobetti, and Steve Wing. Funding sources include the Mellon Foundation, UNC Institute of Latin American Studies, a Fulbright-Garcia Robles grant, and a UNC Kenan Fellowship. Some of this work was completed while Dr. O'Neill was employed at the National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico and while at Harvard University under the training program in environmental epidemiology, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), grant 2 T32 ES07069-24, NIEHS ES00002, and EPAR827353. This paper's contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS.

Disclaimer: Support for some of the data collection was provided by Cooperative Agreements EPACR816071 and EPACR821762 from the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Health Effects Research Laboratory and by the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco (UAM-X). Although the research described in this paper received funding from the US EPA and UAM-X, it has not been subject to Agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency; no official endorsement should be inferred. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

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Author notes

  1. Marie S O'Neill

    Present address: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

  2. Victor H Borja Aburto

    Present address: Secretaría de Salud, Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social, México, D.F., México

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, USA

    Marie S O'Neill & Dana Loomis

  2. Secretaría de Salud, Dirección de Salud Ambiental, México, D.F., México

    Victor H Borja Aburto

  3. Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health,

    Diane Gold

  4. Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Diane Gold

  5. Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of California at Davis, USA

    Irva Hertz-Picciotto

  6. Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco, México

    Margarita Castillejos

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  1. Marie S O'Neill
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Correspondence to Marie S O'Neill.

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O'Neill, M., Loomis, D., Borja Aburto, V. et al. Do associations between airborne particles and daily mortality in Mexico City differ by measurement method, region, or modeling strategy?. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 14, 429–439 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500341

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