Saharan dust and associations between particulate matter and daily mortality in Rome, Italy.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Outbreaks of Saharan-Sahel dust over Euro-Mediterranean areas frequently induce exceedances of the Europen Union's 24-hr standard of 50 μg/m3 for particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter ≤ than 10 μm (PM10).

Objectives

We evaluated the effect of Saharan dust on the association between different PM fractions and daily mortality in Rome, Italy.

Methods

In a study of 80,423 adult residents who died in Rome between 2001 and 2004, we performed a time-series analysis to explore the effects of PM2.5, PM2.5-10, and PM10 on natural, cardiac, cerebrovascular, and respiratory mortality. We defined Saharan dust days by combining light detection and ranging (LIDAR) observations and analyses from operational models. We tested a Saharan dust-PM interaction term t

SUBMITTER: Mallone S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3230430 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature