Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18795163›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental health perspectives2008

Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA): a multicity study of short-term effects of air pollution on mortality.

Chit-Ming Wong, Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan, Haidong Kan, Zhengmin Qian

Abstract readMulticenter Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental health perspectives, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 140 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
140citing papers in PubMed, 15 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

140 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  6. Short- and intermediate-term exposure to NOEnvironmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2020
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  19. Bayesian mapping of mortality clusters.Biostatistics (Oxford, England) · 2025
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80 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Chit-Ming WongDepartment of Community Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. hrmrwcm@hkucc.hku.hk
Nuntavarn Vichit-Vadakan
Haidong Kan
Zhengmin Qian

Funding

Genetics and Environment in Adult Respiratory, Allergic and Cardiac diseaseZIAES043012 · NIEHS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES · PI LONDON, STEPHANIE · 2009 to 2025
$6.4M
Genetic /Environment Factors In Nonmalignant Resp DisZ01ES043012 · NIEHS · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES · PI LONDON, STEPHANIE JOAN · 1999 to 2008
$340k
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND

objectivesAlthough the deleterious effects of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion have been demonstrated in many Western nations, fewer studies have been conducted in Asia. The Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) project assessed the effects of short-term exposure to air pollution on daily mortality in Bangkok, Thailand, and in three cities in China: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Wuhan.

methodsPoisson regression models incorporating natural spline smoothing functions were used to adjust for seasonality and other time-varying covariates that might confound the association between air pollution and mortality. Effect estimates were determined for each city and then for the cities combined using a random effects method.

resultsIn individual cities, associations were detected between most of the pollutants [nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter < or = 10 microm in aerodynamic diameter (PM(10)), and ozone] and most health outcomes under study (i.e., all natural-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality). The city-combined effects of the four pollutants tended to be equal or greater than those identified in studies conducted in Western industrial nations. In addition, residents of Asian cities are likely to have higher exposures to air pollution than those in Western industrial nations because they spend more time outdoors and less time in air conditioning.

conclusionsAlthough the social and environmental conditions may be quite different, it is reasonable to apply estimates derived from previous health effect of air pollution studies in the West to Asia.

Indexed as

Air PollutionPublic HealthAgedAsiaDose-Response Relationship, DrugHumansMiddle Agedair pollutionBangkokHong KongmortalityShanghaitime-series analysisWuhan

Identifiers

PMID18795163
PMCPMC2535622

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.