Circulatory health risks from additive multi-pollutant models: short-term exposure to three common air pollutants in Canada

Abstract Numerous studies have reported adverse health effects of ambient air pollution on circulatory health outcomes mainly based on single-pollutant models. However, limited studies have focused on adjusted effect of multi-pollutant exposures on public health. This study aimed to examine short-term effects of three common air pollutants—ground-level ozone (ozone), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5)—through multi-pollutant models for mixed effect of adjustment. Daily data (circulatory hospitalization and mortality) and hourly data (air pollutants and temperature) were collected for 24 Canadian cities for 2001–2012. We applied generalized additive over-dispersion Poisson regression models with 1, 2, or 3 pollutants for city-specific risks, and Bayesian hierarchical models for national risks. This study found little mixed effect of adjustment through multi-pollutant models (ozone and/or NO2 and/or PM2.5) for circulatory hospitalization or mortality in Canada for 2001–2012, indicating that the 1-pollutant model did not result in considerable under- or over-estimates. It seemed weak-to-moderate correlations among air pollutants did not change the significant effect of one air pollutant after accounting for others. Inconsistent findings between other previous studies and this study indicate the need of comparable study design for multi-pollutant effect analysis.