The association between ambient inhalable particulate matter and the disease burden of respiratory disease: An ecological study based on ten-year time series data in Tianjin, China.

There is limited evidence available worldwide about the quantitative relationship between particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10µm (PM) and years of life lost (YLL) caused by respiratory diseases (RD), especially regarding long-term time series data. We investigated the quantitative exposure-response association between PM and the disease burden of RD. We obtained the daily concentration of ambient pollutants (PM, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide), temperature and relative humidity data, as well as the death monitoring data from 2001 to 2010 in Tianjin. Then, a time series database was built after the daily YLL of RD was calculated. We applied a generalized additive model (GAM) to estimate the burden of PM on daily YLL of RD and to determine the effect (the increase of daily YLL) of every 10μg/m increase in PM on health. We found that every 10μg/m increase in PM was associated with the greatest increase in YLL of 0.84 (95% CI: 0.45, 1.23) years at a 2-day (current day and previous day, lag01) moving average PM concentration for RD. The association between PM and YLL was stronger in females and the elderly (≥65 years of age). The association between PM and YLL of RD differed according to district. These findings also provide new epidemiological evidence for respiratory disease prevention.