Desert dust is a risk factor for the incidence of acute myocardial infarction in Western Japan

• Published in: Circulation Cardiovascular quality and outcomes Vol. 7; no. 5; pp. 743 - 748
• Main Authors: Matsukawa, Ryuichi, Michikawa, Takehiro, Ueda, Kayo, Nitta, Hiroshi, Kawasaki, Tomohiro, Tashiro, Hideki, Mohri, Masahiro, Yamamoto, Yusuke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.09.2014
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Aged; China; Cross-Over Studies; Desert Climate - adverse effects; Dust; Environmental Exposure - adverse effects; Female; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Incidence; Japan; Male; Mongolia; Myocardial Infarction - epidemiology; Silicon Dioxide - adverse effects; Mongolia; China; Japan; dust; air pollution; myocardial infarction
• ISSN: 1941-7713; 1941-7705
• DOI: 10.1161/circoutcomes.114.000921

Recently, there has been increasing concern about adverse health effects of exposure to desert dust events. However, the association between dust and the incidence of ischemic heart diseases is unknown. The aim of the present study was to elucidate whether Asian dust (AD), a windblown sand dust originating from mineral soil in China and Mongolia, is associated with the incidence of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We investigated the data regarding hospitalization because of AMI among 3068 consecutive patients from 4 AMI centers in Fukuoka, Japan, and data for AD from April 2003 to December 2010. We applied a time-stratified case-crossover design to examine the association between AD and the incidence of AMI. Using a conditional logistic regression analysis, we estimated the odds ratios of AMI associated with AD after controlling for ambient temperature and relative humidity. The occurrence of AD events 0 to 4 days before the day of admission was significantly associated with the incidence of AMI. In particular, the occurrence of AD 4 days before admission was significantly associated with the onset of AMI. These data suggest that exposure to AD a few days before symptom onset is associated with the incidence of AMI.