There is a well-documented association between ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM_2.5) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Exposure to PM_2.5 can cause premature death and harmful and chronic health effects such as heart attack, diabetes, and stroke. The Environmental Protection Agency sets annual PM_2.5 standards to reduce these negative health effects. Currently above an annual average level of 12.0 µg/m is considered unhealthy. Methods. We examined the association of long-term exposure to PM_2.5 and CVD in a cohort of 44,610 individuals who resided in 12 states recruited into the Southern Community Cohort Study (SCCS). The SCCS was designed to recruit Black and White participants who received care from Federally Qualified Health Centers; hence, they represent vulnerable individuals from low-income families across this vast region. This study tests whether SCCS participants who lived in locations exposed to elevated ambient levels of PM_2.5 concentrations were more likely to report a history of CVD at enrollment (2002–2009). Remotely sensed satellite data integrated with ground monitoring data provide an assessment of the average annual PM_2.5 in urban and rural locations where the SCCS participants resided. We used multilevel logistic regression to estimate the associations between self-reported CVD and exposure to elevated ambient levels of PM_2.5. Results. We found a 13.4 percent increase in the odds of reported CVD with exposure to unhealthy levels of PM_2.5 exposure at enrollment. The SCCS participants with medical histories of hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking had, overall, 385 percent higher odds of reported CVD than those without these clinical risk factors. Additionally, Black participants were more likely to live in locations with higher ambient PM_2.5 concentrations and report high levels of clinical risk factors, thus, they may be at a greater future risk of CVD. Conclusions: In the SCCS participants, we found a strong relation between exposures to high ambient levels of PM_2.5 and self-reported CVD at enrollment.

中文翻译：

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美国东南部心血管疾病与长期接触细颗粒物 (PM2.5) 的关联

环境细颗粒物空气污染 (PM _2.5 ) 与心血管疾病 (CVD) 发病率和死亡率之间存在充分证明的关联。暴露于 PM _2.5会导致过早死亡和有害和慢性健康影响，例如心脏病发作、糖尿病和中风。环境保护局每年制定PM _2.5标准，以减少这些负面健康影响。目前高于 12.0 µg/m 的年平均水平被认为是不健康的。方法。我们研究了长期暴露于 PM _2.5的关联居住在 12 个州的 44,610 个人组成的队列被招募到南方社区队列研究 (SCCS) 中。SCCS 旨在招募从联邦合格医疗中心接受护理的黑人和白人参与者；因此，他们代表了这一广大地区低收入家庭的弱势群体。这项研究测试了居住在 PM _2.5浓度升高的环境中的 SCCS 参与者是否更有可能在注册时报告 CVD 病史（2002-2009）。与地面监测数据相结合的遥感卫星数据提供了对年均 PM _2.5的评估在 SCCS 参与者居住的城市和农村地区。我们使用多级逻辑回归来估计自我报告的 CVD 与暴露于升高的 PM _2.5环境水平之间的关联。结果。我们发现，在入组时暴露于不健康水平的 PM _{2.5 后}，报告 CVD 的几率增加了 13.4% 。总体而言，有高血压、高胆固醇血症和吸烟史的 SCCS 参与者报告 CVD 的几率比没有这些临床危险因素的参与者高 385%。此外，黑人参与者更有可能居住在环境 PM _2.5较高的地方浓度并报告高水平的临床危险因素，因此，他们未来可能面临更大的 CVD 风险。结论：在 SCCS 参与者中，我们发现暴露于高浓度 PM _2.5环境与入组时自我报告的 CVD之间存在密切关系。