China ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Mental Health/statistics & numerical data* ; Organophosphates/adverse effects* ; Rural Population

Objective: The relationship between outdoor temperature and blood pressure (BP) has been inconclusive. We analyzed data from a prospective cohort study in northwestern China to investigate the effect of outdoor temperature on BP and effect modification by season. Methods: A total of 32,710 individuals who participated in both the baseline survey and the first follow-up in 2011-2015 were included in the study. A linear mixed-effect model and generalized additive mixed model (GAMM) were applied to estimate the association between outdoor temperature and BP after adjusting for confounding variables. Results: The mean differences in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) between summer and winter were 3.5 mmHg and 2.75 mmHg, respectively. After adjusting for individual characteristics, meteorological factors and air pollutants, a significant increase in SBP and DBP was observed for lag 06 day and lag 04 day, a 0.28 mmHg (95% Conclusions This study demonstrated a significant negative association between outdoor temperature and BP in a high-altitude environment of northwest China. Moreover, BP showed a significant seasonal variation. The association between BP and temperature differed by season and individuals' demographic characteristics (age, gender, BMI), unhealthy behaviors (smoking and alcohol consumption), and chronic disease status (CVDs, hypertension, and diabetes).
Adult ; Blood Pressure/physiology* ; China/epidemiology* ; Environmental Exposure/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Seasons ; Temperature

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that exposure to air pollution may increase stroke risk, but the results remain inconsistent. Evidence of more recent studies is highly warranted, especially gas air pollutants. METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science to identify studies till February 2020 and conducted a meta-analysis on the association between air pollution (PM RESULTS: A total of 68 studies conducted from more than 23 million participants were included in our meta-analysis. Meta-analyses showed significant associations of all six air pollutants and stroke hospital admission (e.g., PM CONCLUSIONS Exposure to air pollution was positively associated with an increased risk of stroke hospital admission (PM
Air Pollutants/adverse effects* ; Air Pollution/adverse effects* ; Environmental Exposure/adverse effects* ; Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Particle Size ; Particulate Matter/adverse effects* ; Stroke/mortality*

BACKGROUND: The majority of studies linking exposure to metals with certain health outcomes focus on known toxic metals. Alternatively, this study assesses the extent to which exposure to a wider range of metals during gestation is associated with childhood morbidity. METHODS: We analyzed the concentrations of 25 metals found in urine samples of 111 pregnant women of Arab-Bedouin origin collected prior to birth. In addition, we collected medical records on their offspring for six years following birth, including every interaction with HMOs, local hospitals, and pharmacies. RESULTS: The main types of morbidities diagnosed and treated during this period were preterm births, malformations, asthma-like morbidity, cardiovascular and behavioral problems, and obesity. Multivariable analysis showed that offspring born before term were more likely to have been exposed to elevated maternal concentrations of zinc, thallium, aluminum, manganese, and uranium, all with adjusted relative risk above 1.40 for an increase by each quintile. Likewise, children with asthma had been exposed to higher levels of magnesium, strontium, and barium at gestation, while behavioral outcomes were associated with elevated biometals, i.e., sodium, magnesium, calcium, selenium, and zinc, as well as higher levels of lithium, cobalt, nickel, strontium, cadmium, vanadium, arsenic, and molybdenum. A heatmap of adjusted relative risk estimates indicates the considerable implications that exposure to metals may have for preterm birth and developmental outcomes. CONCLUSIONS The current study shows that perinatal exposure to metals is adversely associated with pediatric morbidity. Further such analyses on additional samples are warranted.
Adult ; Arabs/statistics & numerical data* ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Environmental Pollutants/urine* ; Female ; Humans ; Israel ; Male ; Maternal Exposure/adverse effects* ; Metals/urine* ; Morbidity ; Pregnancy ; Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects/epidemiology* ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVE: Few studies investigating associations between fine particulate air pollution and hemorrhagic stroke have considered subtypes. Additionally, less is known about the modification of such association by factors measured at the individual level. We aimed to investigate the risk of fatal intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) incidence in case of PM (particles ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter) exposure. METHODS: Data on incidence of fatal ICH from 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2014 were extracted from the acute stroke mortality database in Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (SCDC). We used the time-stratified case-crossover approach to assess the association between daily concentrations of PM and fatal ICH incidence in Shanghai, China. RESULTS: A total of 5286 fatal ICH cases occurred during our study period. The averaged concentration of PM was 77.45 μg/m. The incidence of fatal ICH was significantly associated with PM concentration. Substantial differences were observed among subjects with diabetes compared with those without; following the increase of PM in lag2, the OR (95% CI) for subjects with diabetes was 1.26 (1.09-1.46) versus 1.05 (0.98-1.12) for those without. We did not find evidence of effect modification by hypertension and cigarette smoking. CONCLUSIONS Fatal ICH incidence was associated with PM exposure. Our results also suggested that diabetes may increase the risk for ICH incidence in relation to PM.
Air Pollutants ; analysis ; Cause of Death ; Cerebral Hemorrhage ; mortality ; China ; epidemiology ; Diabetes Mellitus ; mortality ; Environmental Exposure ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Particle Size ; Particulate Matter ; analysis ; Stroke ; mortality

Adolescent ; Air Pollutants ; adverse effects ; Air Pollution ; adverse effects ; Asthma ; epidemiology ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; China ; epidemiology ; Environmental Exposure ; adverse effects ; Female ; Humans ; Infant ; Infant, Newborn ; Male ; Outpatients ; statistics & numerical data ; Particulate Matter ; adverse effects

BACKGROUND: Plastic resins are complex chemicals that contain toluene diisocyanate (TDI) and/or trimellitic anhydride (TMA), which cause occupational allergies (OA), including respiratory allergies. Serum IgGs against TDI and TMA have been suggested as potential markers of the exposure status and as exploring cause of OA. Although TDI-specific IgG has been examined for suspected OA, TMA-specific IgG is not commonly evaluated in a urethane foam factory. This study therefore investigated both TDI- and TMA-specific IgGs in suspected OA patients and to evaluate the usefulness of the measurement of multiple chemical-specific IgG measurement for practical monitoring. METHODS: Blood samples were collected from two male workers who developed respiratory allergies supposedly caused by occupational exposure to TDI and/or TMA for the presence of TDI- and TMA-specific IgGs. In addition, blood samples from 75 male workers from a urethane foam factory, along with 87 male control subjects, were collected in 2014 and tested for the same IgGs in 2014. The presence and levels of TDI- and TMA-specific serum IgGs were measured using dot blot assays. RESULTS: We found that controls had mean concentrations of TDI- and TMA-specific IgGs of 0.98 and 2.10 μg/mL, respectively. In the two workers with respiratory allergies, the TDI-specific IgG concentrations were 15.6 and 9.51 μg/mL, and TMA-specific IgG concentrations were 4.56 and 14.4 μg/mL, which are clearly higher than those in controls. Mean concentrations of TDI- and TMA-specific IgGs in the factory workers were 1.89 and 2.41 μg/mL, respectively, and are significantly higher than those of the controls (P < 0.001 and P < 0.026 for TDI- and TMA-specific IgGs, respectively). CONCLUSION The workers suspected of OA showed an evidently high level of TDI- and TMA-specific IgG, and these levels in workers at the urethane foam factory were also significantly higher than those in controls. In conclusion, the measurement of TDI- and TMA-specific IgG among workers using plastic resins is helpful to monitor their exposure status.
Adult ; Air Pollutants, Occupational ; adverse effects ; immunology ; Environmental Monitoring ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; immunology ; Japan ; Male ; Manufacturing and Industrial Facilities ; statistics & numerical data ; Middle Aged ; Occupational Diseases ; blood ; chemically induced ; Occupational Exposure ; adverse effects ; statistics & numerical data ; Phthalic Anhydrides ; immunology ; toxicity ; Respiratory Hypersensitivity ; blood ; chemically induced ; Toluene 2,4-Diisocyanate ; immunology ; toxicity ; Workforce

It is reported that depression has caused heavy disease burden across the world, with an possible association between ambient air pollution and depressive symptoms. In this paper, we reviewed relative literature in this field and summarized the research events on association between ambient air pollution and depression, both in China and abroad and found that the results of the existed studies were inconsistent, with most studies showing that there existed a positive correlation between the exposure of air pollution and depression, but few studies showing the negative correlation or no correlation between the two.
Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Air Pollution/statistics & numerical data* ; China ; Depression/epidemiology* ; Depressive Disorder ; Environmental Exposure/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Humans ; Particulate Matter/analysis* ; Research/trends* ; Residence Characteristics

Objective: To describe and analyze the passive smoking exposure level in adults aged ≥40 years in China. Methods: A total of 75 107 adults from 125 sites of COPD surveillance points in China were surveyed by electronic questionnaire during face to face interviews. After comprehensive weighting of the samples, the passive smoking exposure level was analyzed. Results: The passive smoking exposure rate of the adults aged ≥40 years was 44.9% (95%CI: 42.3%-47.5%). The exposure rate was highest in those aged from 40 to 49 years (51.0%, 95%CI: 47.9%-54.1%) in term of age groups, in those with senior high school education level and above (48.6%, 95%CI: 44.9%-52.2%) in term of education level, and in office workers (57.7%, 95%CI: 51.8%-63.7%) in term of occupation. The adults reporting passive smoking exposure every days in a week accounted for 27.7% (95%CI: 25.5%-29.8%), and those reporting household passive smoking exposure accounted for 28.3% (95%CI: 26.2%-30.5%). Logistic regression analysis showed that the passive smoking exposure level was different in different age groups and occupation groups. Conclusion: The passive smoking exposure level is still high in adults in China. Age and occupation are the influencing factors of passive smoking exposure level.
Adult ; Aged ; Asian People/statistics & numerical data* ; China/epidemiology* ; Environmental Exposure ; Family Characteristics ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Population Surveillance/methods* ; Smoking/epidemiology* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Tobacco Smoke Pollution/statistics & numerical data*

Objective: To carry out a quantitative estimate that related to the effects of short-term exposure to PM(2.5) on all-cause mortality and emergency visits in China by using the systematic review and Meta-analysis. Methods: We selected all the studies published before March 2018 from China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang database, PubMed and EMBASE and data on relative risk (RR), excess risk (ER) and their 95%CIs: appeared in these papers were extracted. According to the differences in the size or direction (heterogeneity) of the results, we computed summary estimates of the effect values using a random-effect or fixed effect model. We also conducted the subgroup analysis and Meta-analysis to have assessed the selected studies for the evidence of study bias. Results: A total of 33 original studies, indexed in databases, were identified. Among those studies, 39 sets of data on mortality and 4 sets of data on emergency were valid to show that within the daily concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), for 10 μg/m(3) increases in PM(2.5) concentrations, it would increase the daily numbers of deaths by 0.49% (95%CI: 0.39%-0.59%) and 0.30% (95%CI: 0.10%-0.51%) for all-cause deaths and all-cause emergency-room visits, respectively. For subgroup analysis, the combined effect of PM(2.5) in causing short-term all-cause deaths in the northern areas (ER=0.42%, 95%CI: 0.30%-0.54%) seemed lower than that in the southern areas (ER=0.63%, 95%CI: 0.44%-0.82%). The combined effect of PM(2.5) concentration below 75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.50%, 95%CI: 0.37%-0.62%) was higher than that of PM(2.5) concentration ≥75 μg/m(3) (ER=0.39%, 95%CI: 0.26%-0.52%). Conclusion: Within the concentration range from 47.7 to 176.7 μg/m(3), short-term exposure to current level of PM(2.5) might increase both the all-cause daily mortality and daily emergency visits in China.
Air Pollutants ; Air Pollution/statistics & numerical data* ; China ; Databases, Factual ; Emergency Service, Hospital/statistics & numerical data* ; Environmental Exposure/statistics & numerical data* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Particulate Matter/toxicity* ; Time Factors