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Associations of Early-Life Exposure to Submicron Particulate Matter with Childhood Asthma and Wheeze: A Multi-City Study in China
34 Pages Posted: 1 Jun 2022
More...Abstract
Background: Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been associated with childhood asthma and wheeze. However, as a major contributor of PM2.5 and even potentially more toxic than PM2.5, the specific effect of PM1 remain unclear.
Objectives: We investigated the effect of early-life (prenatal and first-year) exposure to size-segregated particles including PM1, PM1-2.5, PM2.5, PM2.5-10, and PM10 on childhood asthma and wheeze.
Methods: Based on a multi-city study established between 2019 and 2020 in China, a total of 29,418 preschool children aged 3 to 6 years were included. Machine learning-based space-time model was applied to estimate early-life PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 exposure at 1 × 1-km resolution. Multilevel logistic regression models were performed to evaluate the association of PM exposure with childhood asthma and wheeze.
Results: Early-life PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 exposure were significantly associated with increased risk of childhood asthma, with more evident estimate for PM1 [OR = 1.55 (95% CI: 1.27, 1.89), OR = 1.14 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.26), and OR = 1.11 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.20) for per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, respectively]. Non-significant association was observed for PM1-2.5, suggesting that PM1 rather than PM1-2.5 contributed to the association between PM2.5 and childhood asthma. As for childhood wheeze, we identified significant associations with early-life PM1 and PM2.5 exposure [OR = 1.23 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.41) and OR = 1.08 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.16) for per 10-μg/m3 increase in PM1 and PM2.5, respectively].
Conclusions: More evident estimate effect was observed for the PM and childhood asthma with smaller particle size such as PM1. The results also suggested that the association between PM2.5 and childhood asthma was mainly attributable to PM1.
Funding Information: This work was supported by the Outstanding Young and Middle aged Technology Innovation Team Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (T2020003), Natural Science Foundation of China (81861138005), Youth Fund Project of Humanities and Social Sciences Research of the Ministry of Education (21YJCZH229), and the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) Project (2017-05845).
Declaration of Interests: The authors have no competing financial interests to declare.
Ethics Approval Statement: The study design and proposal were approved by the Ethical Committee of School of Public Health, Fudan University.
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