Skip Navigation



American Journal of Epidemiology Advance Access published online on April 11, 2008
American Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/aje/kwn074
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental Tables
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
167/12/1476    most recent
kwn074v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Stafoggia, M.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Stafoggia, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

American Journal of Epidemiology © The Author 2008. Published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Original Contribution

Does Temperature Modify the Association between Air Pollution and Mortality? A Multicity Case-Crossover Analysis in Italy

M. Stafoggia1,2, J. Schwartz3, F. Forastiere1, C. A. Perucci1 the SISTI Group

1 Department of Epidemiology, Rome E Health Authority, Rome, Italy
2 Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
3 Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA

Correspondence to Massimo Stafoggia, Department of Epidemiology, Rome E Health Authority, Via Santa Costanza 53, 00198 Rome, Italy (e-mail: stafoggia{at}asplazio.it).

Received for publication November 21, 2007. Accepted for publication March 6, 2008.

Adverse health effects of particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) and high temperatures are well known, but the extent of their interaction on mortality is less clear. This paper describes effect modification of temperature in the PM10–mortality association and tests the hypothesis that higher PM10 effects in summer are due to enhanced exposure to particles. All deaths of residents of nine Italian cities between 1997 and 2004 were selected. The case-crossover approach was adopted to estimate the effect of PM10 on mortality by season and temperature level. Three strata of temperature corresponding to low, medium, and high "ventilation" were identified, and the interaction between PM10 and temperature within each stratum was examined. Season and temperature levels strongly modified the PM10–mortality association: for a 10-µg/m3 variation in PM10, a 2.54% increase in risk of death in summer (95% confidence interval: 1.31, 3.78) compared with 0.20% (95% confidence interval: –0.08, 0.49) in winter. Analysis of the interaction between PM10 and temperature within temperature strata resulted in positive but, in most cases, nonstatistically significant coefficients. The authors found much higher PM10 effects on mortality during warmer days. The hypothesis that such an effect is attributable to enhanced exposure to particles in summer could not be rejected.

association; climate; effect modifiers (epidemiology); environmental exposure; mortality; particulate matter; seasons; temperature

Abbreviations: PM10, particulate matter <10 µm in aerodynamic diameter


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.