Air pollutants, genetic susceptibility, and the risk of incident gastrointestinal diseases: A large prospective cohort study

Abstract

A comprehensive overview of the associations between air pollution and the risk of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases has been lacking. We aimed to examine the relationships of long-term exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm (PM_2.5), 2.5-10 μm (PM_coarse), ≤10 μm (PM₁₀), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), and nitrogen oxides (NO_x), with the risk of incident GI diseases, and to explore the interplay between air pollution and genetic susceptibility. A total of 465,703 participants free of GI diseases in the UK Biobank were included at baseline. Land use regression models were employed to calculate the residential air pollutants concentrations. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the associations of air pollutants with the risk of GI diseases. The dose-response relationships of air pollutants with the risk of GI diseases were evaluated by restricted cubic spline curves. We found that long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants was positively associated with the risk of peptic ulcer (PM_2.5 : Q4 vs. Q1: hazard ratio (HR) 1.272, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.179-1.372, NO₂: 1.220, 1.131-1.316, and NO_x: 1.277, 1.184-1.376) and chronic gastritis (PM_2.5: 1.454, 1.309-1.616, PM₁₀ : 1.232, 1.112-1.366, NO₂: 1.456, 1.311-1.617, and NO_x: 1.419, 1.280-1.574) after Bonferroni correction. Participants with high genetic risk and high air pollution exposure had the highest risk of peptic ulcer, compared to those with low genetic risk and low air pollution exposure (PM_2.5: HR 1.558, 95%CI 1.384-1.754, NO₂: 1.762, 1.395-2.227, and NO_x: 1.575, 1.403-1.769). However, no significant additive or multiplicative interaction between air pollution and genetic risk was found. In conclusion, long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants was associated with increased risk of peptic ulcer and chronic gastritis.

Keywords: Air pollution; Chronic gastritis; Gastrointestinal disease; Genetic risk score; Genetic susceptibility; Peptic ulcer.