There was also a correlation between traffic volume within 100 m of a residence and a modest increase in the rate of lung cancer (HR 1.09 (CI 0.99 to 1.21)). No similar correlation was found with NOx air pollution. This suggests that long-term exposure to higher levels of particulate matter air pollution may increase the incidence of lung cancer in a

population. Another study published selleck catalog in the USA in 2004 looked at the long-term effect of exposure to particulate matter air pollution and the mortality attributed to different cardiovascular and respiratory diseases in different areas of the USA.4 A good correlation was found between the degree of long-term exposure to Pm air pollution and increases in mortality from cardiovascular diseases, including heart failure.

Interestingly, this was not found to be the case for most respiratory diseases. There was also an element of the study that looked at the effect of a person’s smoking status on the mortality statistics. This found, as expected, a strong link between mortality and smoking. However, it also found that air pollution contributed additional cardiovascular mortality risk on top of that attributed to smoking. This was at least an additive, if not a synergistic effect. Methods Study data In order to carry out this project, data were collected on the geographical distribution of air pollution within Warwickshire. These data included information about each of four individual components of air pollution (NOx, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and benzene), which could then be united into a combined index (all of the contributions added together). A single recorded level from 2010 of each air pollutant for each ward was used in the study. This was then compared to collected data about: The geographical distribution of home addresses of patients who were admitted to hospital because of heart failure or a complication of heart failure. Hospital admission rate in an area due to heart failure was used as a proxy indicator for the level of heart

failure morbidity within that area. The geographical distribution of home addresses of patients who died from heart failure, or whose death was contributed to by heart failure. These data were collected by the Warwickshire Anacetrapib Observatory, which is part of the Warwickshire County Council in charge of collecting and handling statistics relating to the county. Mortality data for the analysis were supplied via the Warwickshire Public Health Intelligence Team and was sourced from the Public Health Mortality Files, Office for National Statistics. Hospital admissions data were accessed via the Ventris Business Intelligence System, Arden Commissioning Support Unit. Ward level population data were obtained from the 2011 census. Warwickshire is divided into 105 wards. Data from all of the 105 current Warwickshire County wards were collected.