Fig. 2 Mean AC for unadjusted, weighted, and matched populations. Mean AC was smaller than 0.1 using causal inference GPS methods (matching and weighting). AC values of <0.1 indicate good covariate balance, strengthening the interpretability and validity of our analyses as providing evidence of causality. BMI, body mass index.
- Table 1 Characteristics for the study cohorts.
Note that mean (SD) is presented for continuous variables.
Variables Entire Medicare enrollees Medicare enrollees exposed to PM2.5 ≤ 12 μg/m3 Number of individuals 68,503,979 38,366,800 Number of deaths 27,106,639 10,124,409 Total person years 573,370,257 259,469,768 Median years of follow-up 8.0 8.0 Individual-level characteristics Age at entry (years) 65–74 (%) 80.6 88.1 75–84 (%) 14.9 9.0 85–94 (%) 4.1 2.6 95 or above (%) 0.4 0.2 Mean (SD) 69.2 (6.7) 67.6 (5.6) Sex Female (%) 55.5 53.8 Male (%) 44.5 46.2 Race White (%) 83.9 84.7 Black (%) 9.1 7.3 Asian (%) 1.8 1.8 Hispanic (%) 2.0 2.2 North American Native (%) 0.3 0.4 Medicaid eligibility Eligible (%) 11.7 10.9 Area-level risk factors characteristics Ever smoked (%) 47.3 47.3 Below poverty level (%) 10.5 10.1 Below high school education (%) 28.5 25.6 Owner-occupied housing (%) 72.0 72.9 Hispanic (%) 8.9 7.5 Black (%) 8.9 9.2 Population density (persons/km2) 600.0 (1953.9) 489.1(1634.0) Mean BMI (kg/m2) 27.6 (1.1) 27.6 (1.1) Median household income ($1000) 48.9 (21.7) 50.3 (22.0) Median home value ($1000) 162.5 (140.9) 170.9 (146.2) Meteorological variables Summer temperature (°C) 29.5 (3.7) 29.5 (3.9) Winter temperature (°C) 7.6 (7.2) 7.4 (7.6) Summer relative humidity (%) 88.0 (11.7) 86.7 (12.7) Winter relative humidity (%) 86.2 (7.3) 86.4 (7.6) PM2.5 concentrations (μg/m3) 9.8 (3.2) 8.4 (2.3)
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary material for this article is available at http://advances.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/6/29/eaba5692/DC1
Additional Files
Supplementary Materials
Evaluating the impact of long-term exposure to fine particulate matter on mortality among the elderly
X. Wu, D. Braun, J. Schwartz, M. A. Kioumourtzoglou, F. Dominici
This PDF file includes:
- Sections S1 to S4
- Figs. S1 to S5
- Tables S1 to S5
- References
Files in this Data Supplement: