The changing health effects of air pollution exposure for respiratory diseases: a multicity study during 2017-2022.
Environ Health
; 23(1): 36, 2024 Apr 13.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38609898
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Multifaceted SARS-CoV-2 interventions have modified exposure to air pollution and dynamics of respiratory diseases. Identifying the most vulnerable individuals requires effort to build a complete picture of the dynamic health effects of air pollution exposure, accounting for disparities across population subgroups.METHODS:
We use generalized additive model to assess the likely changes in the hospitalisation and mortality rate as a result of exposure to PM2.5 and O3 over the course of COVID-19 pandemic. We further disaggregate the population into detailed age categories and illustrate a shifting age profile of high-risk population groups. Additionally, we apply multivariable logistic regression to integrate demographic, socioeconomic and climatic characteristics with the pollution-related excess risk.RESULTS:
Overall, a total of 1,051,893 hospital admissions and 34,954 mortality for respiratory disease are recorded. The findings demonstrate a transition in the association between air pollutants and hospitalisation rates over time. For every 10 µg/m3 increase of PM2.5, the rate of hospital admission increased by 0.2% (95% CI 0.1-0.7%) and 1.4% (1.0-1.7%) in the pre-pandemic and dynamic zero-COVID stage, respectively. Conversely, O3-related hospitalization rate would be increased by 0.7% (0.5-0.9%) in the pre-pandemic stage but lowered to 1.7% (1.5-1.9%) in the dynamic zero-COVID stage. Further assessment indicates a shift of high-risk people from children and young adolescents to the old, primarily the elevated hospitalization rates among the old people in Lianyungang (RR 1.53, 95%CI 1.46, 1.60) and Nantong (RR 1.65, 95%CI 1.57, 1.72) relative to those for children and young adolescents. Over the course of our study period, people with underlying diseases would have 26.5% (22.8-30.3%) and 12.7% (10.8-14.6%) higher odds of having longer hospitalisation and over 6 times higher odds of deaths after hospitalisation.CONCLUSIONS:
Our estimates provide the first comprehensive evidence on the dynamic pollution-health associations throughout the pandemic. The results suggest that age and underlying diseases collectively determines the disparities of pollution-related health effect across population subgroups, underscoring the urgency to identifying the most vulnerable individuals to air pollution.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Respiration Disorders
/
Respiratory Tract Diseases
/
Air Pollution
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Child
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Environ Health
/
Environ. health
/
Environmental health
Journal subject:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China
Country of publication:
Reino Unido