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 10 µm (PM10) 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 PM10 and the disease burden of RD. We obtained the daily concentration of ambient pollutants (PM10, 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 PM10 on daily YLL of RD and to determine the effect (the increase of daily YLL) of every 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10 on health. We found that every 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10 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 PM10 concentration for RD. The association between PM10 and YLL was stronger in females and the elderly (≥65 years of age). The association between PM10 and YLL of RD differed according to district. These findings also provide new epidemiological evidence for respiratory disease prevention.