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Osteoporosis heavily affects postmenopausal women and is influenced by environmental exposures. Determining the impact of criteria air pollutants and their mixtures on bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women is an urgent priority.

We conducted a prospective observational study using data from the ethnically diverse Women's Health Initiative Study (WHI) (enrollment, September 1994–December 1998; data analysis, January 2020 to August 2022). We used log-normal, ordinary kriging to estimate daily mean concentrations of PM₁₀, NO, NO₂, and SO₂ at participants' geocoded addresses (1-, 3-, and 5-year averages before BMD assessments). We measured whole-body, total hip, femoral neck, and lumbar spine BMD at enrollment and follow-up (Y1, Y3, Y6) via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. We estimated associations using multivariable linear and linear mixed-effects …