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Studies are accumulating about the relationship between air quality and cardiovascular risk. Because air quality in many areas of the world is deficient, we need to quantify the health effects at levels exceeding those that have been designated as safe, particularly with respect to short-term exposure. Investigators in China sought to determine the risks for daily hospital admission associated with short-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 is a measure of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤2.5 microns, considered a particularly toxic component of air pollution.
The study covered more than 8 million admissions in 184 Chinese cities, which had an annual average PM2.5 level of 50 µg/m3. (For context, on Janua…