Epidemiology
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Long-term exposure to outdoor air pollution has typically been estimated on the aggregate level, and more individual measures of exposure are needed. We investigated the associations with lung function of residential outdoor air pollution in early life, total lifetime, and days before lung function test. ⋯ Short- and long-term residential exposures to traffic-related pollutants in Oslo were associated with reduced peak expiratory flow and forced expiratory flow at 25% and 50% in 9- to 10-year-old children, especially in girls, with weaker associations after adjusting for a contextual socioeconomic factor.
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The publication of a 1971 study from Japan on chronic methylmercury poisoning in adults provides an occasion to reexamine the history of Minamata disease and its social and political repercussions. Research findings were suppressed or held back due to controversies that were tearing the Japanese scientific community apart. ⋯ Only now are the long-term adverse effects of environmental methylmercury exposure becoming clear. The delayed release of the 1971 results therefore reminds us as epidemiologists of our obligation, even in the presence of scientific uncertainty, to call attention to preventable risks.
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Long-term air pollution exposure is associated with increased mortality, but the association with incidence of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease is less certain. Moreover, it is unknown how chronic exposure to air pollution affects prognosis among survivors of a first coronary event. This study evaluated the association between long-term traffic-related air pollution exposure and incidence of nonfatal and fatal coronary events, as well as subsequent hospital readmission and mortality among myocardial infarction survivors. ⋯ Long-term air pollution exposure increases the risk of coronary heart disease, particularly fatal events. Hospital readmission or subsequent mortality among survivors was not associated with traffic air pollution.