Enhancing Air Quality Index Activity Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Events in the General Adult Population

The public health relevance of daily Air Quality Index (AQI) activity guidelines for the general adult public in the United States to prevent atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) events is questionable. The purpose of the study was to explore the utility of a policy tailoring activity guidance to calculated ASCVD risk rather than uniform recommendations to the general adult public as currently provided. We calculated the number needed to treat (NNT) to prevent 1 ASCVD event per day by following activity recommendations across 10-year ASCVD risk scores (1% to 20%). Second, we modeled the benefits of tailoring recommendations to ASCVD risk. The NNT decreased as ASCVD risk and/or AQI levels increased. At AQIs up to 151 (68% of days with AQIs above moderate in the United States), the NNTs remained untenably high (>2.7-55.3 million) across ASCVD risk. Under unhealthy conditions (AQIs 151-200), 28% of elevated AQIs, NNTs