New evidence in public health and general practice

Recent evidence indicates the role of air pollution as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. United States researchers assessed the modifications in the expectancy of life associated with differential modifications in fine particulate air pollution in the USA in the course of the 1980s and 1990s. Information regarding demographic features, socioeconomic status and life expectancy was collected for more than 200 county units in 51 metropolitan zones and matched with data regarding air pollution for the late 1970s and early 1980s and the late 1990s and early 2000s. The association between decreases in air pollution and modifications in the expectancy of life was computed by the use of regression models; adjustment for modifications in demographic characteristics, in socioeconomic parameters and in proxy markers for the frequency of smoking was performed. The authors report that a lowering of 10 μg/m3 in fine particulate matter results in association with an estimated elevation in mean life expectancy of 0.61 year (P = 0.004). Air pollution lowering explained approximately 15% of the general augmentation of life expectancy in the zones explored by this study and the researchers concluded that life expectancy in the USA improved as a consequence of the lowering in the exposure to environmental fine-particulate air pollution.