Aug 2026· Frontiers in Public Health· Vol 14· 0 citations· 39 references
Medicine
TL;DR
Higher ambient PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased odds of diabetes-related mortality in California even after adjustment for NO2 and other impact factors, and these findings support the need for continued strengthening of ambient air quality regulations.
Abstract
Background Emerging evidence links air pollution exposure to metabolic dysfunction; however, few studies have examined diabetes-related mortality in relation to ambient air pollutants using high-resolution exposure data at the population level. In the United States, particularly in large and geographically diverse states such as California, exposure contrasts and population heterogeneity provide an important setting to evaluate these associations. Methods We conducted a matched case–control analysis using California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Vital Records (2010–2021). Diabetes-related mortality events (ICD-10 E11) were identified as primary or contributory causes. Decedents (cases) were geocoded to residential addresses, and one-year rolling averages of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) before death were assigned as individual exposures. Each death record was matched to its selected controls based on month and year of birth and race-ethnicity. Controls were identified from the same statewide CDPH mortality database and were eligible because they had not died by the corresponding case’s date of death. Because the number of eligible controls varied across matched strata, controls were randomly sampled within each matched stratum to achieve an overall control-to-case ratio of approximately 2:1 for the study population. The final dataset included 60,824 diabetes-related deaths and 119,053 controls. Exposures were standardized by their interquartile range (IQR) and conditional logistic regression models estimated associations between 1 year rolling average fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure and odds of diabetes-related mortality, adjusting for age, sex, race-ethnicity, marital status, and education. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was included as a co-pollutant for confounding control. Results PM2.5 exposure (per 2.65 μg/m3 IQR increase) was associated with a 18% higher odds of diabetes-related mortality (OR = 1.18; 95% CI: 1.15–1.22) before traffic indicator NO2 adjustment and showed a stronger association with 21% higher odds (OR = 1.21; 95% CI: 1.17–1.25) after NO2 adjustment. Health economics analysis estimated that reducing PM2.5 exposure by its IQR could avoid losses of $31.2 million per 100,000 people. Conclusion Higher ambient PM2.5 exposure was associated with increased odds of diabetes-related mortality in California even after adjustment for NO2 and other impact factors. These findings support the need for continued strengthening of ambient air quality regulations.
Air pollution at least 4 years before hospitalization may increase the odds of hospitalization with Parkinson’s Disease, and reducing air pollution exposure may have long-term effects on PD prevention.
Scott W. Delaney, Lauren Mock, Veronica A. Wang et al.· Environmental Epidemiology· 0 citations
BACKGROUND
Long-term exposure to ambient fine and coarse particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) is a major risk factor for asthma development. However, how urbanicity, poverty, and age jointly modify this association and contribute to disparities in asthma incidence remains unclear.
METHODS
We conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study of 8,252,498 adults in South Korea using the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. Health records were linked to 1km2 resolution estimates of long-term PM2.5 and PM10 exposure. Asthma incidence was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for demographic, clinical, and environmental covariates. Stratified analyses were performed by age, Medical Aid status, and residential area.
RESULTS
Long-term exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 was significantly associated with an increased risk of new-onset asthma. Each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.32-1.34), while a comparable increase in PM10 was associated with an HR of 1.38 (95% CI, 1.37-1.38). Stratified analyses demonstrated progressive risk amplification across age, Medical Aid status, and residential area, with HRs ranging from 1.16 (95% CI, 1.14-1.18) among younger adults without Medical Aid living in rural areas to 1.80 (95% CI, 1.66-1.94) among older adults and receiving Medical Aid residing in urban areas (p for interaction < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Long-term PM exposure significantly increased asthma risk, with the greatest disparities observed among socioeconomically disadvantaged older adults residing in urban areas. Urgent, targeted strategies are needed to mitigate the disproportionate asthma burden attributable to these inequities.
Hyun Lee, Jihye Heo, Jihee Nam et al.· Allergy. European Journal of...· 0 citations
Air pollution is the leading environmental risk factor in the U.S. for premature morbidity and mortality and disproportionately impacts marginalized populations. Although the causal link between air pollution and lung cancer is well established, its impact on breast cancer is less understood. Therefore, in this study, we examined the association between traffic-related air pollution (NO
2
) and particulate matter (PM
2.5
) with the development of breast cancer-specific subtypes among non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) women in Georgia.
Using the Georgia Cancer Registry, we identified women with a first primary breast cancer diagnosis 2010–2017 and geocoded their address at diagnosis to the census tract level. Daily PM
2.5
and NO
2
concentrations modeled on a 1-km grid (SEDAC) were aggregated to census tracts and averaged to annual means; women were assigned the annual mean concentration lagged 5 years prior to diagnosis based on tract of residence at diagnosis. We used logistic regression to compute case-only odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) associating air pollutant concentrations to a diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) compared with other breast cancer subtypes, overall and in strata of race/ethnicity and rurality.
We identified 13,634 NHB and 29,508 NHW women diagnosed with first primary breast cancer between 2010 and 2017 in Georgia. After adjustment for age at diagnosis, race, rurality, and neighborhood poverty, a 5 µg/m
3
increase in PM
2.5
was associated an increase in the odds of TNBC (OR = 1.11, 95%CI 1.02, 1.21) among all breast cancer patients, with no evidence of effect modification by race or rurality. In the fully adjusted model, a 5-ppb increase in NO
2
was associated with a decrease in the odds of ER-negative breast cancer (OR = 0.98, 95%CI 0.96, 0.99) and these effect estimates were consistent within racial groups and by rurality.
Our results indicate etiologic heterogeneity by breast cancer subtype, with PM
2.5
associated with higher odds of TNBC and NO
2
weakly associated with ER-positive disease; however, these associations were consistent across race and rurality, with no evidence of effect modification.
Leah Moubadder, L. J. Collin, M. Maliniak et al.· Breast Cancer Research· 0 citations
Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is a significant public health concern, yet its specific association with skin diseases in the Chinese middle-aged and older population remains insufficiently characterized, with limited evidence on the role of individual pollutants.
We analyzed prospective data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a nationally representative cohort. Participants aged ≥ 45 years from the 2011 baseline survey were followed through 2018. Annual average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, and PM1 at participants’ community residences were assessed using satellite-based models with 1-km resolution. Skin disease was defined by a self-reported physician diagnosis or related symptoms. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (ORs), adjusting for demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle, and health-related covariates. Sensitivity analyses included age-restricted (≥65 years) and incident-case cohorts, and propensity score matching.
Among 7,894 participants, long-term exposure to higher levels of PM2.5 (fully adjusted OR = 1.25, 95% CI: 1.13–1.38), PM10 (OR = 1.18, 95% CI: 1.04–1.32), and NO2 (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 1.02–1.29) was significantly associated with higher odds of skin disease. Associations for SO2 and PM1 were not statistically significant. Results remained consistent across all sensitivity analyses, supporting the robustness of the findings.
This national cohort study provides evidence that long-term exposure to PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 is associated with higher odds of skin diseases among Chinese middle-aged and older adults. These findings suggest that air pollution control may represent a potential intervention target for reducing the burden of skin disease in aging populations.
Hui-Qin Chen, Le Liu, Shan Xu et al.· Archives of Medical Science· 0 citations
Environmental exposure was associated with self-perceived health and well-being, underscoring the need for integrated, system-based policies, such as One Health, to promote sustainable urban well-being.
Elodie Eiffener, Andrei Pyko, Ö. Axelsson et al.· Environmental Epidemiology· 0 citations
Objectives Ambient air pollution, particularly fine particulate matter (PM2.5), has been linked to cerebrovascular disease. However, findings on the short-term effects of PM2.5 exposure on hemorrhagic stroke (HS) have been inconsistent across studies. Therefore, this study investigated the association between short-term PM2.5 exposure and HS hospitalization in Yancheng, China. Methods An individual-level time-stratified case-crossover study was conducted using hospitalization records of patients with HS from four major hospitals in Yancheng between 2022 and 2024. Conditional logistic regression models were applied to estimate the associations between short-term PM2.5 exposure and HS hospitalization across different lag structures. Stratified analyses were further performed according to sex, age, hypertension, diabetes, smoking, alcohol consumption, and season. Results A total of 2,312 patients hospitalized for HS were included in the analysis. The strongest association was observed at lag01, where each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration was associated with a 3.24% increase in HS hospitalization (95% CI: 0.55%−6.00%). Significant increases were also observed at lag0 and lag1, with corresponding effect estimates of 2.50% (95% CI: 0.11%−4.95%) and 2.76% (95% CI: 0.32%−5.27%), respectively. The associations remained significant after adjustment for ozone (O3) but were no longer statistically significant after adjustment for sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and carbon monoxide (CO). Relatively stronger effect estimates were observed among females, older adults, individuals with hypertension or diabetes, smokers, alcohol consumers, and during the cold season. Conclusion Short-term PM2.5 exposure was associated with an increased risk of HS hospitalization in Yancheng, China, with the strongest effects observed within the first two days after exposure. The associations were more pronounced among susceptible populations and during the cold season.
K. Qian, Xiao-Rong Xu, Chun-Xiang Xu et al.· Frontiers in Public Health· 0 citations
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