Association between exposure to ambient air pollution and hospital admission, incidence, and mortality of stroke: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of more than 23 million participants

BACKGROUND@#Previous studies have suggested that exposure to air pollution may increase stroke risk, but the results remain inconsistent. Evidence of more recent studies is highly warranted, especially gas air pollutants.@*METHODS@#We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify studies till February 2020 and conducted a meta-analysis on the association between air pollution (PM@*RESULTS@#A total of 68 studies conducted from more than 23 million participants were included in our meta-analysis. Meta-analyses showed significant associations of all six air pollutants and stroke hospital admission (e.g., PM@*CONCLUSIONS@#Exposure to air pollution was positively associated with an increased risk of stroke hospital admission (PM