Institute of Occupational Medicine and Industrial Hygiene, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taiwan.
Sci Total Environ. 2011 Dec 1;410-411:47-52. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.031. Epub 2011 Oct 11.
This study aims to assess the association between Asian dust storms (ADS) and daily mortality in Taipei, Taiwan. A time-stratified case-crossover design was used to investigate the effects of ADS on mortality. Odds ratios (ORs) of total non-accidental (ICD-9 <800), cardiovascular (ICD-9 390-459, 785), and respiratory deaths (ICD-9 460-519, 786) were estimated for residents in Taipei metropolis over a 14-year study period between 1994 and 2007 by conditional logistic regression. Air pollution levels and temperature data were recorded by a network of 16 monitoring stations spreading around Taipei. Compared with reference days, particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 and 2.5μm (PM(10) and PM(2.5)) increased statistically significantly by 24.2μg/m(3) and 7.9μg/m(3) per dust day, respectively. There were also statistically significant increases in sulfur dioxide (SO(2)) and ozone (O(3)) but decreases in temperature during ADS. Excess deaths were increased significantly for residents of all ages for total non-accidental deaths, with OR=1.019 (95% CI 1.003-1.035), and also for residents above 65years old, with OR=1.025 (95% CI 1.006-1.044) for total non-accidental deaths and OR=1.045 (95% CI 1.0011-1.081) for cardiovascular deaths, respectively but not for respiratory deaths during ADS. Such increases in mortality remained statistically significant in the regression models with either SO(2) or O(3). This study found that acute exposure to long-range transported Asian dust can increase the number of non-accidental and cardiovascular deaths for people of all ages and the elderly population aged above 65 on the dust storm days in Taipei, Taiwan. Further studies are still needed to find out whether mass concentrations alone or specific components in PM are responsible for excess cardiovascular deaths by ADS.
本研究旨在评估亚洲沙尘暴（ADS）与台湾台北市每日死亡率之间的关联。采用时间分层病例交叉设计研究了 ADS 对死亡率的影响。通过条件逻辑回归，对 1994 年至 2007 年 14 年间居住在台北都会区的居民进行了总非意外（ICD-9 <800）、心血管（ICD-9 390-459、785）和呼吸死亡（ICD-9 460-519、786）的病例对照分析。空气污染水平和温度数据由分布在台北周围的 16 个监测站网络记录。与参考日相比，每出现一个沙尘日，空气动力学直径小于 10μm 和 2.5μm 的颗粒物（PM10 和 PM2.5）分别增加了 24.2μg/m3 和 7.9μg/m3。同时，二氧化硫（SO2）和臭氧（O3）也有显著增加，但 ADS 期间温度下降。所有年龄段的居民总非意外死亡的超额死亡均显著增加，OR=1.019（95%CI 1.003-1.035），65 岁以上居民总非意外死亡的 OR=1.025（95%CI 1.006-1.044），心血管死亡的 OR=1.045（95%CI 1.0011-1.081），但 ADS 期间呼吸死亡没有增加。在回归模型中，SO2 或 O3 也存在这种死亡率增加的统计学意义。本研究发现，急性暴露于远距离传输的亚洲沙尘会增加所有年龄段人群和 65 岁以上老年人群在台湾台北沙尘日的非意外和心血管死亡人数。还需要进一步研究，以确定 PM 中的质量浓度或特定成分是否导致 ADS 引起的心血管死亡人数增加。
