Adult Mortality in Two Communities with Widely Different Air Pollution Levels

Abstract

Mortality experience was determined over a 13-year period (1960-72) for sample populations in two small Pennsylvania communities with widely different air pollution levels. The sample populations had been the subject of a Public Health Service study at the beginning of the period and air quality measurements were made at that time. The influence of smoking on mortality was clearly evident. A relationship was suggested between mortality rate and length of residence in the polluted community (age-adjusted), but not in the control community. The hypothesis Is suggested that immigrants to a polluted area are a self-selected, unusually healthy group. While the small population size precluded definitive conclusions on the influence of air pollution on mortality, it appears that those with over 20 years exposure to air pollution in the polluted community (151 μg/m³ suspended particulate, 3.7 mg/100 cm²/day sulfation rate) have about one-tenth the excess mortality of those smoking one pack of cigarettes a day in the control community (109 μg/m³ , 0.6 mg/100 cm²/day). The data are consistent with the hypothesis that the effects of smoking and air pollution are additive.