• Teng Tiew-Hwa Katherine TH Discipline of Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, , Crawley, Western Australia, Australia., Teresa A Williams, Alexandra Bremner, Hideo Tohira, Peter Franklin, Andrew Tonkin, Ian Jacobs, and Judith Finn.
• Discipline of Emergency Medicine, The University of Western Australia, , Crawley, Western Australia, Australia.
• J Epidemiol Community Health. 2014 Jan 1; 68 (1): 37-43.

IntroductionStudies have linked air pollution with the incidence of acute coronary artery events and cardiovascular mortality but the association with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is less clear.AimTo examine the association of air pollution with the occurrence of OHCA.MethodsElectronic bibliographic databases (until February 2013) were searched. Search terms included common air pollutants and OHCA. Studies of patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators and OHCA not attended by paramedics were excluded. Two independent reviewers (THKT and TAW) identified potential studies. Methodological quality was assessed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale.ResultsOf 849 studies, 8 met the selection criteria. Significant associations between particulate matter (PM) exposure (especially PM(2.5)) and OHCA were found in 5 studies. An increase of OHCA risk ranged from 2.4% to 7% per interquartile increase in average PM exposure on the same day and up to 4 days prior to the event. A large study found ozone increased the risk of OHCA within 3 h prior to the event. The strongest risk OR of 3.8-4.6% per 20 parts per billion ozone increase of the average level was within 2 h prior to the event. Similarly, another study found an increased risk of 18% within 2 days prior to the event.ConclusionsLarger studies have suggested an increased risk of OHCA with air pollution exposure from PM(2.5) and ozone.

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