Objectives: to evaluate whether living near motorway A57 (Mestre motorway, Veneto Region, Northern Italy) might have affected the residents' health status.
Design: longitudinal cohort study.
Setting and participants: 148,673 residents on the mainland in the Municipality of Venice (Mestre) who never changed their residence during the follow- up period (2002-2009).
Main outcomes measures: the 2001 Italian census data were linked with the data sources of the epidemiological integrated system which includes: population registry, death certificates, hospital discharges, drug prescriptions, and tax exemption. Mortality and incidence for several subgroups of causes, incidence of acute myocardial infarction and stroke, and prevalence of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischemic cardiopathy and diabetes were estimated. The ADMS-Urban model was adopted to define three different exposure areas based on PM10 emissions from the motorway: A (highly exposed), B (moderately exposed) used as a comparison for the analysis, C (unexposed). Hazard ratios (HR) for incidence and mortality were estimated from Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for calendar period, age, gender, and instruction level. The relationship between the exposure area and prevalence was investigated by multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for the same covariates.
Results: compared with B area (23.25%of the population under study), people living in A area (3.16% of the population under study) had an increased incidence of acute myocardial infarction (HR: 1.43; 95%CI 1.03-1.97) in females, and prevalence of ischemic cardiopathy (odds ratio - OR: 1.12; 95%CI 1.01-1.26) in both genders. Results were borderline for COPD in males (OR: 1.17; 95%CI 0.97-1.41). Positive but nonsignificant associations were found with pneumonia and respiratory recoveries.
Conclusions: this study showed that residents who live near Mestre motorway had an increased prevalence of some cardiorespiratory diseases, particularly ischemic cardiopathy.