A Time Series Analysis of Outdoor Air Pollution and Preterm Birth in Shanghai, China

Objective To investigate the relation between air pollution exposure and preterm birth in Shanghai, China. Methods We examined the effect of ambient air pollution on preterm birth using time-series approach in Shanghai in 2004. This method can eliminate potential confounding by individual risk factors that do not change over a short period of time. Daily numbers of preterm births were obtained from the live birth database maintained by Shanghai Municipal Center of Disease Control and Prevention. We used the generalized additive model （GAM） with penalized splines to analyze the relation between preterm birth, air pollution, and covariates. Results We observed a significant effect of outdoor air pollution only with 8-week exposure before preterm births. An increase of 10 μg/m^3 of 8-week average PM10, SO2, NO2, and O3 corresponded to 4.42% （95%CI 1.60%, 7.25%）, 11.89% （95%CI 6.69%, 17.09%）, 5.43% （95%CI 1.78%, 9.08%）, and 4.63% （95%CI 0.35%, 8.91%） increase of preterm birth. We did not find any significant acute effect of outdoor air pollution on preterm birth in the week before birth. Conclusion Ambient air pollution may contribute to the risk of preterm birth in Shanghai. Our analyses also strengthen the rationale for further limiting air pollution level in the city.

Application of DALYs in Measuring Health Effect of Ambient Air Pollution:A Case Study in Shanghai,China

Objective To investigate the effect of ambient air pollution on human health and the subsequent disabillty-adjusted life years （DALYs） lost in Shanghai. Methods We used epidemiology-based exposure-response functions to calculate the attributable number of cases due to air pollution in Shanghai in 2000, and then we estimated the corresponding DALYs lost in Shanghai based on unit DALYs values of the health consequences. Results Ambient air pollution caused 103 064 DALYs lost in Shanghai in 2000. Among all the health endpoints, premature deaths and chronic bronchitis predominated in the value of total DALYs lost. Conclusion The air pollution levels have an adverse effect on the general population health and strengthen the rationale for limiting the levels of air pollution in outdoor air in Shanghai.

Interaction Between Ambient Particles and Ozone and Its Effect on Daily Mortality

Objective To examine the effect of particulate matter （PM） less than 10 microns in diameter （PM10） and ozone （O3） on daily mortality in Shanghai, China. Methods A generalized additive model with penalized spline function was used to observe the acute effect of PM10 and O3 on daily mortality. Results Higher PM10 significantly increased the effect of 03 on total mortality, and O3 also increased the effect of PM10 although the estimated increment was statistically insignificant. Conclusion Our findings provide further evidence for the effect of PM10 and O3 on daily mortality.

Impact of Ambient Air Pollution on Public Health under Various Traffic Policies in Shanghai,China

Objective To investigate the potential impact of ambient air pollution on public health under various traffic policies in Shanghai. Methods The exposure level of Shanghai residents to air pollution under various planned traffic scenarios was estimated, and the public health impact was assessed using concentration-response functions derived from available epidemiological studies. Results Our results showed that ambient air pollution in relation to traffic scenarios had a significant impact on the future health status of Shanghai residents. Compared with the base case scenario, implementation of various traffic scenarios could prevent 759-1574, 1885-2420, and 2277-2650 PM10-related avoidable deaths （mean-value） in 2010, 2015, and 2020, respectively. It could also decrease the incidence of several relevant diseases. Conclusion Our findings emphasize the need to consider air pollution-related health effects as an important impact of traffic policy in Shanghai.