Association of Exposure to Particular Matter and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Xiaole Liu¹  Hui Lian¹  Yanping Ruan¹  Ruijuan Liang¹  Xiaoyi Zhao¹  Michael Routledge²  Zhongjie Fan¹ 

[1] Department of Cardiology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China; E-Mails:;Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK; E-Mail:

关键词: air pollution;    PM_2.5;    PM₁₀;    carotid intima-media thickness;    subclinical atherosclerosis;    meta-analysis;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph121012924

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Background: Long time exposure to particular matter has been linked to myocardial infarction, stroke and blood pressure, but its association with atherosclerosis is not clear. This meta-analysis was aimed at assessing whether PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ have an effect on subclinical atherosclerosis measured by carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). Methods: Pubmed, Ovid Medline, Embase and NICK between 1948 and 31 March 2015 were searched by combining the keywords about exposure to the outcome related words. The random-effects model was applied in computing the change of CIMT and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI). The effect of potential confounding factors was assessed by stratified analysis and the impact of traffic proximity was also estimated. Results: Among 56 identified studies, 11 articles satisfied the inclusion criteria. In overall analysis increments of 10 μg/m³ in PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ were associated with an increase of CIMT (16.79 μm; 95% CI, 4.95–28.63 μm and 4.13 μm; 95% CI, −5.79–14.04 μm, respectively). Results shown in subgroup analysis had reference value for comparing with those of the overall analysis. The impact of traffic proximity on CIMT was uncertain. Conclusions: Exposure to PM_2.5 had a significant association with CIMT and for women the effect may be more obvious.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.