Urban-rural disparity of the short-term association of PM2.5 with mortality and the mortality burden attributable to ambient PM2.5 in China

ABSTRACT Although studies have investigated the associations between PM2.5 and mortality risk, evidence from rural areas is scarce. We aimed to compare the PM2.5-mortality associations between urban cities and rural areas in China. Daily mortality and air pollution data were collected from 215 locations during 2014–2017 in China. A two-stage approach was employed to estimate the location-specific and combined cumulative associations between short-term exposure to PM2.5 (lag 0–3 days) and mortality risks. The excess risks (ER) of all-cause, respiratory disease (RESP), cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cerebrovascular disease (CED) mortality for each 10 μg/m3 increment in PM2.5 across all locations were 0.54% (95% CI: 0.38%, 0.70%), 0.51% (0.10%, 0.93%), 0.74% (0.50%, 0.97%), and 0.52% (0.20%, 0.83%), respectively. Slightly stronger associations for CVD (0.80% vs. 0.60%) and CED (0.61% vs. 0.26%) mortality were observed in urban cities than in rural areas, and slightly greater associations for RESP mortality (0.51% vs. 0.43%) were found in rural areas than in urban cities. A mean of 2.11% [attributable fraction (AF), 95% CI: 1.48%, 2.76%) of all-cause mortality was attributable to PM2.5 exposure in China, with a larger AF in urban cities [2.89% (2.12%, 3.67%)] than in rural areas [0.61% (-0.60%, 1.84%)]. Disparities in PM2.5-mortality associations between urban cities and rural areas were also found in some subgroups classified by sex and age. This study provided robust evidence on the associations of PM2.5 with mortality risks in China and demonstrated urban-rural disparities of PM2.5-mortality associations for various causes of death.