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Ischemic heart disease mortality and PM 3.5 in a cohort of autoworkers
Author(s) -
Costello Sadie,
Garcia Erika,
Hammond S. Katharine,
Eisen Ellen A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22152
Subject(s) - medicine , cohort , cohort study , epidemiology , occupational exposure , environmental health , disease , demography , sociology
Background Increased risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) has been associated with particulate matter (PM) from air pollution. Yet evidence of increased risk associated with higher workplace exposures is scant. Methods We examined the exposure–response relationship between IHD mortality and PM 3.5 (<3.5 µm diameter) from current and cumulative exposure to straight metalworking fluid in a cohort of 39,412 autoworkers followed from 1941 to 1995. Age, calendar year of follow up, sex, race, and plant were included in each model. Results To address the decrease in polycyclic‐aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content in the straight metalworking fluid over time, analyses were stratified by calendar time. Increased risk of IHD mortality was associated with current exposure to PM 3.5 before 1971 and with cumulative exposure to PM 3.5 after 1971. Conclusions Results provide modest evidence that occupational exposure to fine PM from straight fluids, especially fluid with higher PAH, may increase the risk of IHD mortality. Am. J. Ind. Med. 56:317–325, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.