Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) association with peripheral artery disease admissions in northeastern United States

BACKGROUND: Current evidence, on the association of PM2.5 and peripheral artery disease (PAD) is very sparse. METHODS: We use novel PM2.5 prediction models to investigate associations between chronic and acute PM2.5 exposures and hospital PAD admissions across the northeast USA. Poisson regression analysis was preformed where daily admission counts in each zip code are regressed against both chronic and acute PM2.5 exposure, temperature, socio-economic characteristics and time to control for seasonal patterns. RESULTS: Positive significant associations were observed between both chronic and acute exposure to PM2.5 and PAD hospitalizations. Every 10-μg/m(3) increase in acute PM2.5 exposure was associated with a 0.26 % increase in admissions (CI = 0.08 - 0.45 %) and every 10-μg/m(3) increase in chronic PM 2.5 exposure was associated with a 4.4 % increase in admissions (CI = 3.50 - 5.35 %). CONCLUSIONS: The study supports the hypothesis that acute and chronic exposure to PM2.5 can increase the risk of PAD.