Lung cancer as adverse health effect by indoor radon exposure in China from 2000 to 2020: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Indoor radon exposure is thought to be associated with adverse health effect as lung cancer. Lung cancer incidences in China have been the highest worldwide during the past two decades. It is important to quantitively address indoor radon exposure and its health effect, especially in countries like China. In this paper, we have conducted a meta-analysis based on indoor radon and its health effect studies from a systematic review between 2000 and 2020. A total of 8 studies were included for lung cancer. We found that the relative risk (RR) was 1.01 (95% CI: 1.01-1.02) per 10 Bq/m3 increase of indoor radon for lung cancer in China. The subgroup analysis found no significant difference between the conclusions from the studies from China and other regions. The health effect of indoor radon exposure is relatively consistent for the low-exposure and high-exposure groups in the subgroup analysis. With a better understanding of exposure level of indoor radon, the outcomes and conclusions of this study will provide supports for next phase of researches on estimation of environmental burden of disease by indoor radon exposures in countries like China.

Indoor exposure levels of radon in dwellings, schools, and offices in China from 2000 to 2020: A systematic review.

After decades of development, the indoor environment in China has changed. A systematic review was conducted from peer-reviewed scientific papers with field test data of indoor radon in China from 2000 to 2020 for three types of buildings. The mean concentrations of indoor radon for dwellings, school buildings, and office buildings are 54.6, 56.1, and 54.9 Bq/m3 . The indoor radon concentration was related to seasons, climate regions, ventilation, decoration, and other factors such as soil and outdoor air. Colder seasons, especially in severe colder areas of China, newer decorated buildings, closed windows, and doors were all associated with higher indoor radon concentrations. Variables like climate region and ventilation showed statistical significance in the correlation analysis. Regarding the increasing trend of indoor radon concentration in China during the last two decades, further study of indoor radon is necessary especially for school buildings and office buildings, and will help access its environmental burden of disease in China more accurately.

[Risk factors for congenital anal atresia].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risk factors for the development of congenital anal atresia in neonates. METHODS: A total of 70 neonates who were admitted to 17 hospitals in Foshan, China from January 2011 to December 2014 were enrolled as case group, and another 70 neonates who were hospitalized during the same period and had no anal atresia or other severe deformities were enrolled as control group. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to investigate the risk factors for the development of congenital anal atresia. RESULTS: The univariate analysis revealed that the age of mothers, presence of oral administration of folic acid, infection during early pregnancy, and polyhydramnios, and sex of neonates showed significant differences between the case and control groups (P<0.05). The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that infection during early pregnancy (OR=18.776) and male neonates (OR=9.304) were risk factors for congenital anal atresia, and oral administration of folic acid during early pregnancy was the protective factor (OR=0.086). CONCLUSIONS: Infection during early pregnancy is the risk factor for congenital anal atresia, and male neonates are more likely to develop congenital anal atresia than female neonates. Supplementation of folic acid during early pregnancy can reduce the risk of congenital anal atresia.

The burden of disease attributable to indoor air pollutants in China from 2000 to 2017.

BACKGROUND: High-level exposure to indoor air pollutants (IAPs) and their corresponding adverse health effects have become a public concern in China in the past 10 years. However, neither national nor provincial level burden of disease attributable to multiple IAPs has been reported for China. This is the first study to estimate and rank the annual burden of disease and the financial costs attributable to targeted residential IAPs at the national and provincial level in China from 2000 to 2017. METHODS: We first did a systematic review and meta-analysis of 117 articles from 37 231 articles identified in major databases, and obtained exposure-response relationships for the candidate IAPs. The exposure levels to these IAPs were then collected by another systematic review of 1864 articles selected from 52 351 articles. After the systematic review, ten IAPs with significant and robust exposure-response relationships and sufficient exposure data were finally targeted: PM2·5, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, radon, formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and p-dichlorobenzene. The annual exposure levels in residences were then evaluated in all 31 provinces in mainland China continuously from 2000 to 2017, using the spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression model to analyse indoor originating IAPs, and the infiltration factor method to analyse outdoor originating IAPs. The disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) attributable to the targeted IAPs were estimated at both national and provincial levels in China, using the population attributable fraction method. Financial costs were estimated by an adapted human capital approach. FINDINGS: From 2000 to 2017, annual DALYs attributable to the ten IAPs in mainland China decreased from 4620 (95% CI 4070-5040) to 3700 (3210-4090) per 100 000. Nevertheless, in 2017, IAPs still ranked third among all risk factors, and their DALYs and financial costs accounted for 14·1% (95% CI 12·3-15·6) of total DALYs and 3·45% (3·01-3·82) of the gross domestic product. Specifically, the rank of ten targeted IAPs in order of their contribution to DALYs in 2017 was PM2·5, carbon monoxide, radon, benzene, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulphur dioxide, formaldehyde, toluene, and p-dichlorobenzene. The DALYs attributable to IAPs were 9·50% higher than those attributable to outdoor air pollution in 2017. For the leading IAP, PM2·5, the DALYs attributable to indoor origins are 18·3% higher than those of outdoor origins. INTERPRETATION: DALYs attributed to IAPs in China have decreased by 20·0% over the past two decades. Even so, they are still much higher than those in the USA and European countries. This study can provide a basis for determining which IAPs to target in various indoor air quality standards and for estimating the health and economic benefits of various indoor air quality control approaches, which will help to reduce the adverse health effects of IAPs in China. FUNDING: The National Key Research and Development Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Latent profile analysis of anxiety disorder among left-behind children in rural Southern China: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine rural left-behind children's anxiety. Further study is needed to identify the heterogeneous characteristics of rural left-behind children's anxiety and explore the related factors. SETTING: A cross-sectional survey using a school-based sample was conducted in January 2018 in Qingxin district, Qingyuan city, Guangdong province. PARTICIPANTS: 1026 left-behind children (effective response rate of the questionnaire: 95.39%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Profile latent classes (LC) and anxiety disorder. RESULTS: The LPA identified three anxiety LC: 'low anxiety' (56.6%), 'medium anxiety' (34.8%) and 'severe anxiety' (8.6%). The multinomial logistic regression model was used to predict the relationship between personal, family, school factors and anxiety. We found that the variables directly related to lower anxiety classes included age (12-14 years), harmonious or fair relationship with classmates, no neglect, harmonious parental relationship and the duration of mother migration <6 months. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggested the need for careful consideration of differences in anxieties among rural left-behind children. Identifying latent subgroups may provide an empirical basis for teachers and public health practitioners to implement anxiety intervention efforts.