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. 2024 Oct 25:12:1325956.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1325956. eCollection 2024.

Long-term effects of air pollution on daily outpatient visits for allergic conjunctivitis from 2013 to 2020: a time-series study in Urumqi, China

Dongwei Liu #  1 , Siyu Gui #  1 , Xinchen Wang #  1 , Qianqian Wang  1 , Jianchao Qiao  2 , Fangbiao Tao  3 , Liming Tao  1 , Zhengxuan Jiang  1 , Xianglong Yi  4
Affiliations

Long-term effects of air pollution on daily outpatient visits for allergic conjunctivitis from 2013 to 2020: a time-series study in Urumqi, China

Dongwei Liu et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: This study aimed to elucidate the effects of outdoor air pollution and allergic conjunctivitis and population-based lagged effects of air pollution.

Methods: We included data on six major air pollutants, PM10, PM2.5, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), and 3325 allergic conjunctivitis outpatient visits in Urumqi, northwest China, from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020. We developed quasi-Poisson generalized linear regression models with distributed lagged nonlinear models (DLNM), and single and multi-pollutant models were constructed to investigate single-day and cumulative lagged effects in detail.

Results: Our results confirmed that elevated PM10 and NO2 levels are significantly associated with increased allergic conjunctivitis outpatient visits with lags of 2 and 3 days respectively, and subgroup analyses further suggest that the effects of PM10 and NO2 on allergic conjunctivitis are more pronounced during the warm season. Women are more sensitive to PM10 exposure and the effect of air pollution on allergic conjunctivitis is influenced by age (e.g., infancy and older people).

Discussion: Our work provides the first time-series study in Urumqi, the world's furthest inland city from the ocean. Further implementation of specific outdoor air pollution controls such as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, as well as special population protection policies remain necessary. Multicenter studies with larger sample sizes are needed.

Keywords: air pollution; allergic conjunctivitis; outpatient visits; population; time-series analysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Locations of environmental monitoring stations and hospital in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China. The location of each air quality monitor is marked with a blue dot; the location of the hospital is marked with a red cross; the home address of each recruited patient is marked with a black dot. FAHXMU: First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University (Urumqi, Xinjiang, China); 1: Urumqi Toll House; 2: Urumqi Thirty-first High School; 3: Urumqi Xin Shi Da Hot Spring Campus; 4: Urumqi Hong-guang Mountain Area; 5: Urumqi Great Green Valley; 6: Urumqi Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences Farm; 7: Urumqi Monitoring Station; 8: Urumqi Railway Bureau; 9: Urumqi Mi-dong District Environmental Protection Bureau; 10: Urumqi Da-ban Cheng District Environmental Protection Bureau; Urumqi Training Base Protection Bureau; 11: Urumqi Training Base.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of air pollutants and outpatient visits for allergic conjunctivitis over time in Urumqi (2013–2020).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Spearman's correlation between different air pollutants and meteorological factors. T, Mean temperature; RH, Relative humidity; AP, Atmospheric pressure.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Overall exposure-response association for air pollutants and allergic conjunctivitis outpatient visits: single-pollutant model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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