Ambient Air Pollution and the Risk of Atrial Fibrillation and Stroke: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although growing evidence links air pollution to stroke incidence, less is known about the effect of air pollution on atrial fibrillation (AF), an important risk factor for stroke.

Objectives

We assessed the associations between air pollution and incidence of AF and stroke. We also sought to characterize the shape of pollutant-disease relationships.

Methods

The population-based cohort comprised 5,071,956 Ontario residents, age 35–85 y and without the diagnoses of both outcomes on 1 April 2001 and was followed up until 31 March 2015. AF and stroke cases were ascertained using health administrative databases with validated algorithms. Based on annual residential postal codes, we assigned 5-y running average concentrations of fine particulate matter ([Formula:

SUBMITTER: Shin S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6792368 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature