The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Evaluating the long-term consequences of air pollution in early life: geographical correlations between coal consumption in 1951/2 and current mortality in England and Wales

Evaluating the long-term consequences of air pollution in early life: geographical correlations between coal consumption in 1951/2 and current mortality in England and Wales
Evaluating the long-term consequences of air pollution in early life: geographical correlations between coal consumption in 1951/2 and current mortality in England and Wales
Objective:
To evaluate associations between early life air pollution and subsequent mortality.

Design:
Geographical study

Setting:
Local Government Districts within England and Wales

Exposure:
Routinely collected geographical data on the use of coal and related solid fuels in 1951-2 were used as an index of air pollution.
Main outcome measures:
We evaluated the relationship between these data and both all-cause and disease-specific mortality among men and women aged 35-74 in Local Government Districts between 1993 and 2012.

Results:
Domestic (household) coal consumption had the most powerful associations with mortality. There were strong correlations between domestic coal use and all-cause mortality (relative risk per SD increase in fuel use 1.124, 95% CI = 1.123 to 1.126), and respiratory (1.238, 1.234 to 1.242), cardiovascular (1.138, 1.136 to 1.140), and cancer mortality (1.073, 1.071 to 1.075). These effects persisted after adjustment for socioeconomic indicators in 1951, current socioeconomic indicators and current pollution levels.

Conclusion:

Coal was the major cause of pollution in the UK until the Clean Air Act of 1956 led to a rapid decline in consumption. These data suggest that coal-based pollution, experienced over 60 years ago in early life, affects human health now by increasing mortality from a wide variety of diseases.

Domestic air pollution, MORTALITY, geographical analysis, long-term follow-up
2044-6055
Phillips, David
29b73be7-2ff9-4fff-ae42-d59842df4cc6
Osmond, Clive
2677bf85-494f-4a78-adf8-580e1b8acb81
Southall, Humphrey
8dad1fde-e4d2-40dc-a28c-49d0c2b4316f
Aucott, Paula
3317cdba-0931-4d82-a39c-349e13546a27
Jones, Alexander
24d11eac-53d3-40b0-9091-dd5917ca09fc
Holgate, Stephen
2e7c17a9-6796-436e-8772-1fe6d2ac5edc
Phillips, David
29b73be7-2ff9-4fff-ae42-d59842df4cc6
Osmond, Clive
2677bf85-494f-4a78-adf8-580e1b8acb81
Southall, Humphrey
8dad1fde-e4d2-40dc-a28c-49d0c2b4316f
Aucott, Paula
3317cdba-0931-4d82-a39c-349e13546a27
Jones, Alexander
24d11eac-53d3-40b0-9091-dd5917ca09fc
Holgate, Stephen
2e7c17a9-6796-436e-8772-1fe6d2ac5edc

Phillips, David, Osmond, Clive, Southall, Humphrey, Aucott, Paula, Jones, Alexander and Holgate, Stephen (2018) Evaluating the long-term consequences of air pollution in early life: geographical correlations between coal consumption in 1951/2 and current mortality in England and Wales. BMJ Open, 8 (4), [e018231]. (doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018231).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective:
To evaluate associations between early life air pollution and subsequent mortality.

Design:
Geographical study

Setting:
Local Government Districts within England and Wales

Exposure:
Routinely collected geographical data on the use of coal and related solid fuels in 1951-2 were used as an index of air pollution.
Main outcome measures:
We evaluated the relationship between these data and both all-cause and disease-specific mortality among men and women aged 35-74 in Local Government Districts between 1993 and 2012.

Results:
Domestic (household) coal consumption had the most powerful associations with mortality. There were strong correlations between domestic coal use and all-cause mortality (relative risk per SD increase in fuel use 1.124, 95% CI = 1.123 to 1.126), and respiratory (1.238, 1.234 to 1.242), cardiovascular (1.138, 1.136 to 1.140), and cancer mortality (1.073, 1.071 to 1.075). These effects persisted after adjustment for socioeconomic indicators in 1951, current socioeconomic indicators and current pollution levels.

Conclusion:

Coal was the major cause of pollution in the UK until the Clean Air Act of 1956 led to a rapid decline in consumption. These data suggest that coal-based pollution, experienced over 60 years ago in early life, affects human health now by increasing mortality from a wide variety of diseases.

Text
March21unmarked - Accepted Manuscript
Restricted to Repository staff only
Request a copy
Text
e018231.full - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (1MB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 22 March 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 27 April 2018
Published date: 2018
Keywords: Domestic air pollution, MORTALITY, geographical analysis, long-term follow-up

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 419133
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/419133
ISSN: 2044-6055
PURE UUID: bfd8dc12-4d69-4efc-af95-cb156a6a5b89
ORCID for Clive Osmond: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9054-4655

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 06 Apr 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:50

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: David Phillips
Author: Clive Osmond ORCID iD
Author: Humphrey Southall
Author: Paula Aucott
Author: Alexander Jones
Author: Stephen Holgate

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×