Background: Ozone has been associated with daily mortality, mainly in the summer period. Despite the ample literature on adaptation of inflammatory and pulmonary responses to ozone, and the link, in cohort studies, between lung function and mortality risk there has been little done to date to examine the question of adaptation in the acute mortality risk associated with ambient ozone.
Methods: We applied a case-crossover design in 48 US cities to examine the ozone effect by season, by month and by age groups, particularly focusing on whether there was an adaptation effect.
Results: We found that the same day ozone effect was highest in summer with a 0.5% (95% CI: 0.38, 0.62) increase in total mortality for 10 ppb increase in 8-hr ozone, whilst the effect decrease to null in autumn and winter. We found higher effects in the months May- July with a 0.46% (95% CI: 0.24, 0.68) increase in total mortality for 10 ppb increase in ozone in June, and a 0.65% (95% CI: 0.47, 0.82) increase in mortality during July. The effect decreased in August and became null in September. We found similar effects from the age group 51-60 up to age 80 and a lower effect in 80 years and older.
Conclusion: The mortality effects of ozone appear diminished later in the ozone season, reaching the null effect previously reported in winter by September. More work should address this issue and examine the biological mechanism of adaptation.