Venous thromboembolism in an industrial north american city: temporal distribution and association with particulate matter air pollution.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Emerging evidence, mainly from Europe and Asia, indicates that venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs most often in winter. Factors implicated in such seasonality are low temperature-mediated exacerbation of coagulation and high levels of particulate matter (PM) air pollution. However, in contrast to most European and Asian cities, particulate matter pollution peaks in the summer in many North American cities.

Objectives

We aimed to exploit this geographical difference and examine the temporal distribution of VTE in a cold-weather, North American city, Detroit, with a summer PM peak. Our goal was thereby to resolve the influence of temperature and PM levels on VTE.

Methods

Our retrospective, analytical semi-ecological study used chart review to confirm 1,907 a

SUBMITTER: Chiu HH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3707887 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature