Analysis of 272 cities in China finds link between ambient carbon monoxide and cardiovascular mortality

A study published in The Lancet Planetary Health revealed that exposure to ambient carbon monoxide might raise the odds of dying from a plethora of cardiovascular conditions. The scientists noted that the study, which analyzed air quality in various Chinese cities, was consistent with previous European research that demonstrated a link between air quality and heart health.

• A team of Chinese researchers carried out a nationwide time-series analysis in 272 major cities in China from January 2013 to December 2015 as part of the study.
• The research team pooled data from China’s Disease Surveillance Points system to obtain information on the country’s daily cardiovascular disease mortality rates.
• The scientists also obtained data from the National Urban Air Quality Real-time Publishing Platform to determine the daily carbon monoxide concentrations for each examined city.
• The experts then used over-dispersed generalized linear models to determine the correlation between carbon monoxide exposure and cardiovascular diseases, while Bayesian hierarchical models were utilized to attain the national and regional average associations.
• The results showed that the total number of cardiovascular deaths in the examined cities were about eight cases per day for cardiovascular disease, three cases per day for coronary heart disease and four cases per day for stroke.
• The findings also revealed that climatic conditions — such as humidity, temperature — and co-pollutant concentrations were associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular causes.
• Furthermore, data from subgroup analyses revealed that women, people older than 75 years, and people with low levels of education were more likely to suffer cardiovascular deaths than men, younger people and those with higher education.

The findings may hold important implications that may promote the development of stricter government policies on air quality regulation, the researchers concluded.

Find the full text of the study at this link.

Journal reference:

Liu C, Yin P, Chen R, Meng X, Wang L, Niu Y, Lin Z, Liu Y, Liu J, Qi J, et al. AMBIENT CARBON MONOXIDE AND CARDIOVASCULAR MORTALITY: A NATIONWIDE TIME-SERIES ANALYSIS IN 272 CITIES IN CHINA. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2018;2(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30181-X