Browsing by Author "Gerbase, Margaret W."
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
Results per page
Sort options
- PublicationFollow-up of the Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA 2) 1991–2003: methods and characterization of participants(Birkhäuser, 2005) Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula; Kuna-Dibbert, Birgit; Probst-Hensch, Nicole M.; Schindler, Christian; Dietrich, Denise Felber; Stutz, Elisabeth Zemp; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Baum, Felix; Brändli, Otto; Brutsche, Martin; Downs, Sara H.; Keidel, Dirk; Gerbase, Margaret W.; Imboden, Medea; Keller, Roland; Knöpfli, Bruno; Künzli, Nino; Nicod, Laurent; Pons, Marco; Staedele, Patricia; Tschopp, Jean-Marie; Zellweger, Jean-Pierre; Leuenberger, Philippe [in: Sozial- und Präventivmedizin]Objectives: The Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA) was designed to investigate the health effects from long-term exposure to air pollution. Methods: The health assessment at recruitment (1991) and at the first reassessment (2001-3) consisted of an interview about respiratory health, occupational and other exposures, spirometry, a methacholine bronchial challenge test, end-expiratory carbon monoxide (CO) measurement and measurement for atopy. A bio bank for DNA and blood markers was established. Heart rate variability was measured using a 24-hour ECG (Holter) in a random sample of participants aged 50 years and older. Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3) and particulates in ambient air have been monitored in all study areas since 1991. Residential histories collected over the 11 year follow-up period coupled with GIS modelling will provide individual long-term air pollutant exposure estimates. Results: Of 9651 participants examined in 1991, 8715 could be traced for the cohort study and 283 died. Basic information about health status was obtained for 8047 individuals (86% of alive persons), 6 528 individuals (70%) agreed to the health examination and 5 973 subjects (62%) completed the entire protocol. Non-participants in the reassessment were on average younger than participants and more likely to have been smokers and to have reported respiratory symptoms in the first assessment. Average weight had increased by 5.5 kg in 11 years and 28% of smokers in 1991 had quit by the time of the reassessment.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
- PublicationImprovements in PM10 Exposure and Reduced Rates of Respiratory Symptoms in a Cohort of Swiss Adults (SAPALDIA)(American Thoracic Society, 2009) Schindler, Christian; Keidel, Dirk; Gerbase, Margaret W.; Zemp, Elisabeth; Bettschart, Robert; Brändli, Otto; Brutsche, Martin H.; Burdet, Luc; Karrer, Werner; Knöpfli, Bruno; Pons, Marco; Rapp, Regula; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Künzli, Nino; Schwartz, Joel; Liu, Lee-Jane S.; Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula; Rochat, Thierry [in: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine]Rationale: Reductions in mortality following improvements in air quality were documented by several studies, and our group found, in an earlier analysis, that decreasing particulate levels attenuate lung function decline in adults. Objectives: We investigated whether decreases in particulates with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 10 microm (PM10) were associated with lower rates of reporting respiratory symptoms (i.e., decreased morbidity) on follow-up. Methods: The present analysis includes 7,019 subjects who underwent detailed baseline examinations in 1991 and a follow-up interview in 2002. Each subject was assigned model-based estimates of average PM10 during the 12 months preceding each health assessment and the difference was used as the exposure variable of interest (DeltaPM10). Analyses were stratified by symptom status at baseline and associations between DeltaPM10 and change in symptom status during follow-up were adjusted for important baseline characteristics, smoking status at follow-up, and season. We then estimated adjusted odds ratios for symptoms at follow-up and numbers of symptomatic cases prevented due to the observed reductions in PM10. Measurements and main results: Residential exposure to PM10 was lower in 2002 than in 1991 (mean decline 6.2 microg/m3; SD = 3.9 microg/m3). Estimated benefits (per 10,000 persons) attributable to the observed changes in PM10-levels were: 259 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 102-416) fewer subjects with regular cough, 179 (95% CI, 30-328) fewer subjects with chronic cough or phlegm and 137 (95% CI, 9-266) fewer subjects with wheezing and breathlessness. Conclusions: Reductions in particle levels in Switzerland over the 11-year follow-up period had a beneficial effect on respiratory symptoms among adults.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
- PublicationReduced exposure to PM10 and attenuated age-related decline in lung function(Massachusetts Medical Society, 2007) Downs, Sara H.; Schindler, Christian; Liu, L.-J. Sally; Keidel, Dirk; Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy; Brutsche, Martin H.; Gerbase, Margaret W.; Keller, Roland; Künzli, Nino; Leuenberger, Philippe; Probst-Hensch, Nicole M.; Tschopp, Jean-Marie; Zellweger, Jean-Pierre; Rochat, Thierry; Schwartz, Joel; Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula [in: New England Journal of Medicine]Background: Air pollution has been associated with impaired health, including reduced lung function in adults. Moving to cleaner areas has been shown to attenuate adverse effects of air pollution on lung function in children but not in adults. Methods: We conducted a prospective study of 9651 adults (18 to 60 years of age) randomly selected from population registries in 1990 and assessed in 1991, with 8047 participants reassessed in 2002. There was complete information on lung volumes and flows (e.g., forced vital capacity [FVC], forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], FEV1 as a percentage of FVC, and forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of the FVC [FEF25–75]), smoking habits, and spatially resolved concentrations of particulate matter that was less than 10 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) from a validated dispersion model assigned to residential addresses for 4742 participants at both the 1991 and the 2002 assessments and in the intervening years. Results: Overall exposure to individual home outdoor PM10 declined over the 11-year follow-up period (median, −5.3 μg per cubic meter; interquartile range, −7.5 to −4.2). In mixed-model regression analyses, with adjustment for confounders, PM10 concentrations at baseline, and clustering within areas, there were significant negative associations between the decrease in PM10 and the rate of decline in FEV1 (P=0.045), FEV1 as a percentage of FVC (P=0.02), and FEF25–75 (P=0.001). The net effect of a decline of 10 μg of PM10 per cubic meter over an 11-year period was to reduce the annual rate of decline in FEV1 by 9% and of FEF25–75 by 16%. Cumulative exposure in the interval between the two examinations showed similar associations. Conclusions: Decreasing exposure to airborne particulates appears to attenuate the decline in lung function related to exposure to PM10. The effects are greater in tests reflecting small-airway function.01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift