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Particulate matter concentrations during desert dust outbreaks and daily mortality in Nicosia, Cyprus

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 23, pages 275–280 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Ambient particulate matter (PM) has been shown to have short- and long-term effects on cardiorespiratory mortality and morbidity. Most of the risk is associated with fine PM (PM2.5); however, recent evidence suggests that desert dust outbreaks are major contributors to coarse PM (PM10–2.5) and may be associated with adverse health effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the risk of total, cardiovascular and respiratory mortality associated with PM concentrations during desert dust outbreaks. We used a time-series design to investigate the effects of PM10 on total non-trauma, cardiovascular and respiratory daily mortality in Cyprus, between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2007. Separate PM10 effects for non-dust and dust days were fit in generalized additive Poisson models. We found a 2.43% (95% CI: 0.53, 4.37) increase in daily cardiovascular mortality associated with each 10-μg/m3 increase in PM10 concentrations on dust days. Associations for total (0.13% increase, 95% CI: −1.03, 1.30) and respiratory mortality (0.79% decrease, 95% CI: −4.69, 3.28) on dust days and all PM10 and mortality associations on non-dust days were not significant. Although further study of the exact nature of effects across different affected regions during these events is needed, this study suggests adverse cardiovascular effects associated with desert dust events.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the A.G. Leventis Foundation for financial assistance and the HSPH Cyprus Initiative under which the project was developed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Andreas M Neophytou, Brent A Coull, Douglas W Dockery, Petros Koutrakis & Francine Laden

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Andreas M Neophytou, Douglas W Dockery & Francine Laden

  3. Cyprus International Institute for Environmental & Public Health in Association with Harvard School of Public Health, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus

    Panayiotis Yiallouros

  4. Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Brent A Coull

  5. Department of Labour Inspection, Air Quality Section, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Savvas Kleanthous

  6. Health Monitoring Unit, Cyprus Ministry of Health, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Pavlos Pavlou

  7. Cyprus Meteorological Service, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Stelios Pashiardis

  8. Channing Division of Network Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Francine Laden

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  1. Andreas M Neophytou
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Correspondence to Andreas M Neophytou.

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Neophytou, A., Yiallouros, P., Coull, B. et al. Particulate matter concentrations during desert dust outbreaks and daily mortality in Nicosia, Cyprus. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 23, 275–280 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2013.10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2013.10

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