1.Association between short-term exposure to atmospheric fine particulate matter and ozone and inflammatory indicators in peripheral blood of patients with pneumonia
Lulu SONG ; Qi YU ; Nannan LIU ; Yuhui GAO ; Zeyu NIU ; Yan ZHANG ; Huiqiu ZHENG ; Jiayu TIAN ; Junxia LIU ; Lifang ZHAO ; Zhihong ZHANG
Shanghai Journal of Preventive Medicine 2024;36(6):551-558
ObjectiveTo explore the association between short-term exposure to atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) and systemic inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, and to identify the susceptible populations. MethodsFrom September 2018 to April 2020, data of 1 480 patients admitted for pneumonia was collected from a tertiary hospital in Taiyuan City. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to explore the associations between PM2.5 and O3 exposure and inflammatory indicators of patients with pneumonia; and to explore the susceptibility factors and susceptible populations to PM2.5 and O3 exposures through stratified analyses. ResultsThe short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with changes in peripheral blood C-reation protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation (ESR), easinophil (EOS), neutrophil (NEU) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with pneumonia, and there were different degrees of hysteresis effects, with the effect values reaching a maximum at lag03, lag03, lag0, lag03, lag03, respectively, which were 4.13% (95%CI: 0.43%‒7.84%), 3.10% (95%CI: 0.24%‒5.97%), 5.27% (95%CI: 3.12%‒7.42%), 1.85% (95%CI: 0.36%‒3.34%), and 2.53% (95%CI: 0.53%‒4.74%) for every 10 μg·m-3 of PM2.5. The changes in O3 concentration were associated with the elevation of peripheral blood PCT and ESR in patients with pneumonia, and their effect values all reached the maximum at lag01 d, every 1 μg·m-3 of O3 elevation increased by 0.38% (95%CI: 0.04%‒0.73%) and 0.47% (95%CI: 0.19%‒0.76%), respectively. Stratified analyses showed that the associations of PM2.5 with peripheral blood CRP, ESR, NEU, and NLR in pneumonia patients were more significant in males, the elderly, and those with onset in the cold season; the associations of O3 with peripheral blood PCT and ESR in pneumonia patients were more significant in the elderly and those with onset in the warm season, and the peripheral blood CRP and PCT in female patients with pneumonia were more susceptible to the changes of O3. ConclusionShort-term exposure to atmospheric PM2.5 and O3 are positively associated with changes in inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, and the effects of PM2.5 on patients with pneumonia are more extensive than those of O3, with a longer lag effect. In addition, elderly patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to air pollution, male patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to PM2.5, and female patients with pneumonia are more sensitive to O3. Cold and warm seasons can exacerbate the effects of PM2.5 and O3 on inflammatory indicators in patients with pneumonia, respectively, and the patients must be protected well.