Associations between Short-Term Changes in Nitrogen Dioxide and Mortality in Canadian Cities

Abstract

The association between daily variations in ambient concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and mortality was examined in 12 of Canada's largest cities, using a 19-yr time-series analysis (from 1981-1999). The authors employed parametric statistical methods that are not subject to the recently discovered convergence and error estimation problems of generalized additive models. An increase in the 3-d moving average of NO₂ concentrations equivalent to the population-weighted study mean of 22.4 ppb was associated with a 2.25% (t = 4.45) increase in the daily nonaccidental mortality rate and was insensitive to adjustment for ozone, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, coefficient of haze, size-fractionated particulate mass, and the sulfate ion measured on an every-6th-day sampling schedule. The 3-d moving average of NO₂ was sensitive to adjustment for fine particulate matter measured daily during the 1998-2000 time period.

Keywords:

• ambient air
• air pollution
• Canada
• mortality
• urban air pollution