Tom Cole-Hunter

University of Copenhagen · Department of Public Health

A widely used method for estimating fine scale long-term spatial variation in air pollution, especially for epidemiology studies, is land use regression (LUR) modeling using fixed off-road monitors. More recently, LUR models have been developed using data from mobile monitors that repeatedly measure road pollutants and mixed-effects modeling. Here,...

Ultrafine particles (UFP; particulate matter <0.1 μm in diameter) may be more harmful to human health than larger particles, but epidemiological evidence on their health effects is still limited. In this study, we examined the association between short-term exposure to UFP and mortality and hospital admissions in Copenhagen, Denmark. Daily concentr...

ChatGPT is a highly advanced AI language model that has gained widespread popularity. It is trained to understand and generate human language and is used in various applications, including automated customer service, chatbots, and content generation. While it has the potential to offer many benefits, there are also concerns about its potential for...

Background: Environmental noise is an important environmental exposure that can affect health. An association between transportation noise and breast cancer incidence has been suggested, although current evidence is limited. We investigated the pooled association between long-term exposure to transportation noise and breast cancer incidence. Method...

Objective Early ecological studies have suggested links between air pollution and risk of COVID-19, but evidence from individual-level cohort studies is still sparse. We examined whether long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with risk of COVID-19 and who is most susceptible. Methods We followed 3 721 810 Danish residents≥30 years on Ma...

ChatGPT is a highly advanced AI language model that has gained widespread popularity. It is trained to understand and generate human language and is used in various applications, including automated customer service, chatbots, and content generation. While it has the potential to offer many benefits, there are also concerns about its potential for...

Background Colon cancer incidence is rising globally, and factors pertaining to urbanization have been proposed involved in this development. Traffic noise may increase colon cancer risk by causing sleep disturbance and stress, thereby inducing known colon cancer risk-factors, e.g. obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, and alcohol consumption, bu...

Objective: To quantify the number of avoidable annual deaths and associated economic benefits from meeting the World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for ambient concentrations for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for Member States of the WHO Western Pacific Region. Methods: Using the AirQ+ software, we performed a quantitative he...

Background: Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is a well-recognized risk factor for premature death. However, evidence on which PM2.5 components are most relevant is unclear. Methods: We evaluated the associations between mortality and long-term exposure to eight PM2.5 elemental components [copper (Cu), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), sulfur (S), nickel (Ni)...

Background The link between exposure to ambient air pollution and mortality from cardiorespiratory diseases is well established, while evidence on neurodegenerative disorders including Parkinson’s Disease (PD) remains limited. Objective We examined the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and PD mortality in seven Europe...

Ambient air pollution is an established risk factor for premature mortality from chronic cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic diseases, while evidence on neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders remains limited. We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality from dementia, psychiatric disorder...

The COVID-19 containment response policies (CRPs) had a major impact on air quality (AQ). These CRPs have been time-varying and location-specific. So far, despite having numerous studies on the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on AQ, a knowledge gap remains on the association between stringency of CRPs and AQ changes across the world, regions, nations,...

Active mobility (AM), defined as walking and cycling for transportation, can improve health through increasing regular physical activity. However, these health improvements could be outweighed by harm from inhaling traffic-related air pollutants during AM participation. The interaction of AM and air pollutants on health is complex physiologically,...

Background The association between long-term exposure to air pollution and mortality from cardiorespiratory diseases is well established, yet the evidence for other diseases remains limited. Objectives To examine the associations of long-term exposure to air pollution with mortality from diabetes, dementia, psychiatric disorders, chronic kidney di...

Rationale: Ambient air pollution exposure has been linked to mortality from chronic cardiorespiratory diseases, while evidence on respiratory infections remains more limited. Objectives: We examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and pneumonia related mortality in adults in a pool of eight European cohorts. Methods:...

Background Long-term road traffic noise exposure is linked to cardio-metabolic disease morbidity, whereas evidence on mortality remains limited. Objectives We investigated association of long-term exposure to road traffic noise with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Methods We linked 22,858 females from the Danish Nurse Cohort (DNC), recrui...

Ultrafine particles (UFP), harmful to human health, are emitted at high levels from motorised traffic. Bicycle commuting is increasingly encouraged to reduce traffic emissions and increase physical activity, but higher breathing rates increase inhaled UFP concentrations while in traffic. We assessed exposure to UFP while cycling along a fixed 8.5 k...

Background: Road traffic noise has been linked to increased risk of ischemic heart disease, yet evidence on stroke shows mixed results. We examine the association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise and incidence of stroke, overall and by subtype (ischemic or hemorrhagic), after adjustment for air pollution. Methods: Twenty-five tho...

Background We examined the association of long‐term exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise with incident heart failure (HF). Methods And Results Using data on female nurses from the Danish Nurse Cohort (aged >44 years), we investigated associations between 3‐year mean exposures to air pollution and road traffic noise and incident HF usin...

Background There is evidence to suggest that long term exposure to air pollution could be associated with decreased levels of fertility, although there is controversy as to how short term exposure may compromise fertility in IVF patients and what windows of exposure during the IVF process patients could be most vulnerable. Methods This prospective...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The COVID-19 response policies had a major impact on air quality (AQ) worldwide. However, limited data availability, diverse political responses, and multiple-factor interactions made the analysis challenging. We aimed to quantify the effect of various COVID-19 response policies on concentration of ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO2)...

BACKGROUND: Associations between long-term exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise have been established for ischemic heart disease, but findings have been mixed for atrial fibrillation (AF). OBJECTIVES: The goal of the study was to examine associations of long-term exposure to road traffic noise and air pollution with AF. METHODS: Time-...

Background Ambient air pollution is likely a risk factor for asthma, and recent evidence suggests the possible relevance of road traffic noise. Objectives We examined the associations of long-term exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise with adult-asthma incidence. Methods We followed 28,731 female nurses (age > 44 years) from the Danish...

Ultrafine particles (UFP; particulate matter <0.1 μm diameter) emitted from motorized traffic may be highly detrimental to health. Active mobility (walking, bicycling) is increasingly encouraged as a way to reduce traffic congestion and increase physical activity levels. However, it has raised concerns of increased exposure to UFP, due to increased...

Background While air pollution has been linked to the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), evidence on the role of environmental noise is just emerging. We examined the associations of long-term exposure to air pollution and road traffic noise with COPD incidence. Methods We defined COPD incidence for 24 538 female nurses f...

Background: Evidence of nonauditory health effects of road traffic noise exposure is growing. This prospective cohort study aimed to estimate the association between long-term exposure to road traffic noise above a threshold and incident myocardial infarction (MI) in Denmark. Methods: In the Danish Nurse Cohort study, we used data of 22,378 wome...

Background Exposure to household air pollution from solid fuel combustion for cooking and heating is an important risk factor for premature death and disability worldwide. Current evidence supports an association of ambient air pollution with cardiovascular disease but is limited for household air pollution and for cardiac function. Controlled expo...

Background Knowledge of the role of melatonin, xenograft experiments, and epidemiological studies suggests that exposure to light at night (LAN) may disturb circadian rhythms, possibly increasing the risk of developing breast cancer. Objectives We examined the association between residential outdoor LAN and the incidence of breast cancer: overall...

Waste-to-energy (WtE) processes, or the combustion of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) for energy generation, has the potential to reduce landfill volume while providing a renewable energy source. We aimed to systematically review and summarise current evidence on the potential health effects (benefits and risks) of exposure to WtE/RDF-related combustion...

Background The association between air pollution and mortality is well established, yet some uncertainties remain: there are few studies that account for road traffic noise exposure or that consider in detail the shape of the exposure–response function for cause-specific mortality outcomes, especially at low-levels of exposure. Objectives We exami...

Background the relationships between the built environment characteristics and personal factors influencing public transport use and the ways they interact are not well understood. Objective we aim to advance the understanding of the relationship between built environment and frequency of public transport use in seven European cities, while accoun...

Household air pollution is a leading risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. Numerous cookstoves have been developed to reduce household air pollution, but it is unclear whether such cookstoves meaningfully improve health. In a controlled exposure study with a crossover design, we assessed the effect of pollution emitted from multiple co...

Ambient air pollution has been linked to stroke, but few studies have examined in detail stroke subtypes and confounding by road traffic noise, which was recently associated with stroke. Here we examined the association between long-term exposure to air pollution and incidence of stroke (overall, ischemic, hemorrhagic), adjusting for road traffic n...

Free access until June 04 2020 here: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1avCCLDQwyMG Increased cycling uptake can improve population health, but barriers include real and perceived risks. Crash risk factors are important to understand in order to improve safety and increase cycling uptake. Many studies of cycling crash risk are based on combining dive...

Background: Exposure to household air pollution generated as a result of cooking and heating is a leading contributor to global disease. The effects of cookstove-generated air pollution on adult lung function, however, remain uncertain. Objectives: We investigated acute responses in lung function following controlled exposures to cookstove-generate...

Household air pollution emitted from solid-fuel cookstoves used for domestic cooking is a leading risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality globally. There have been attempts to design and distribute lower emission cookstoves, yet it is unclear if they meaningfully improve health. Using a crossover design, we assessed differences in central...

Background: Household air pollution from solid fuel combustion for cooking and heating is an important risk factor for premature death and morbidity worldwide. Current evidence supports an association of ambient air pollution and cardiovascular disease, but limited information exists specifically for household air pollution. We investigated acute i...

Background: Worldwide, governments are committing to better waste management. In Australia, only half the waste generated is recycled. Meanwhile, there is increased demand for energy and increased need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Waste-to-Energy (WtE) processes have economic and environmental benefits but the health benefits and risks are l...

Background: Air quality in the Pacific Island Countries (PICs) can be comparable to more developed countries due to emissions from energy production and use. Although much potential exists for clean energy, many PIC communities and households rely on fossil/ solid-fuel combustion for domestic energy needs (e.g. cooking, lighting), which may contrib...

Background Exposure to air pollution from solid fuel used in residential cookstoves is considered a leading environmental risk factor for disease globally, but evidence for this relationship is largely extrapolated from literature on smoking, secondhand smoke, and ambient fine particulate matter ( PM 2.5 ). Methods and Results We conducted a contr...

Physical activity has been widely associated with beneficial health effects. The use of electric-assist bicycles (e-bikes) can lead to increased or decreased physical activity, depending on the transport mode substituted. This study aimed to compare physical activity levels of e-bikers and conventional bicycle users (cyclists) as well as across e-...

Background: Sufficient sample size and minimal sample bias are core requirements in empirical data analyses. Combining opportunistic recruitment with an online survey and data collection platform yields new benefits compared to traditional recruitment approaches. Objective: The objective of this paper is to report on the success of different recru...

BACKGROUND: Sufficient sample size and minimal sample bias are core requirements for empirical data analyses. Combining opportunistic recruitment with a Web-based survey and data-collection platform yields new benefits over traditional recruitment approaches. OBJECTIVE: This paper aims to report the success of different recruitment methods and obta...

Aim: To assess the main and interaction effects of black carbon and physical activity on arterial blood pressure in a healthy adult population from three European cities using objective personal measurements over short-term (hours and days) and long-term exposure. Methods: A panel study of 122 healthy adults was performed in three European citie...

Background: In the fight against rising overweight and obesity levels, and unhealthy urban environments, the renaissance of active mobility (cycling and walking as a transport mode) is encouraging. Transport mode has been shown to be associated to body mass index (BMI), yet there is limited longitudinal evidence demonstrating causality. We aimed to...

Introduction: When physical activity is promoted in urban outdoor settings (e.g. walking and cycling), individuals are also exposed to air pollution. It has been reported that short-term lung function increases as a response to physical activity, but this beneficial effect is hampered when elevated air pollution concentrations are observed. Our st...

Background/aim The increased inhalation rate during physical activity in urban environments may result in increased inhaled dose of traffic-related air pollutants. Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollutants has been associated with increasing blood pressure. The current study assesses the main effects and interaction effects of traffic-r...

Background: Exposure to air pollution is known to affect both short and long-term outcomes of the cardiopulmonary system; however, findings on short-term outcomes have been inconsistent and often from isolated and long-term rather than coexisting and short-term exposures, and among susceptible/unhealthy rather than healthy populations. Aims: We...

Low cost, personal air pollution sensors may reduce exposure measurement errors in epidemiological investigations and contribute to citizen science initiatives. Here we assess the validity of a low cost personal air pollution sensor. Study participants were drawn from two ongoing epidemiological projects in Barcelona, Spain. Participants repeatedly...

Introduction: Until now, estimates of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) have mainly been produced on national or regional levels. These general estimates, however, are less useful for city governments who have to take decisions on local scales. To address this gap, we focused on the city-level burden of disease (BD) due to exposures affected by u...

The PASTA project ran from October 2013-October 2017, and was about getting individuals to be more physically active by integrating physical activity (PA) into their daily transport activities through walking and cycling. This report reflects the work and findings from the first work package of the PASTA project. In a nutshell, this report looks at...