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Ambient particulate matter air pollution associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in Guangzhou, China

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 28, pages 392–399 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Limited evidence exists concerning the impact of particulate pollution on acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined the effects of particulate pollution on emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) for ARDS in Guangzhou, China. Daily air pollution concentrations for PM10, PM2.5, and PM1, as well as PM2.5 chemical compositions, were available from a central air monitoring station. The association between incident ARDS and air pollution on the concurrent and previous 5 days was estimated by an over-dispersed Poisson generalized additive model controlling for meteorological factors, temporal trends, public holidays and day of the week. We identified a total of 17,002 EADs for ARDS during the study period. There were significant associations between concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, PM1, and ARDS; corresponding excess risk (ER) for an interquartile range IQR increase in 1-day lagged concentration was 5.45% [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.70%, 9.33%] for PM10 (45.4 μg/m3), 4.71% (95% CI: 1.09%, 8.46%) for PM2.5 (31.5 μg/m3), and 4.45% (95% CI: 0.81%, 8.23%) for PM1 (28.8 μg/m3), respectively. For PM2.5 chemical compositions, we found that OC, EC, sulfate and ammonium were significantly associated with ARDS. The observed effects remained even after adjusting for potentially confounding factors. This study suggests that PM10, PM2.5, and PM1, as well as chemical constituents from combustion and secondary aerosols might be important triggers of ARDS in Guangzhou.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by the Public Welfare Research Program of National Health and Family Planning Commission of China (201502003, 201402022), Guangdong Department of Science and Technology, China (2015A020215037), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2014A030310077).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Hualiang Lin

  2. South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou, China

    Jun Tao

  3. School of Public Health, Key Lab of Public Health Safety of the Ministry of Education, & Key Lab of Health Technology Assessment of the Ministry of Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Haidong Kan

  4. College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO, USA

    Zhengmin Qian & Katherine A. Stamatakis

  5. Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510120, China

    Ailan Chen

  6. Guangdong Provincial Weather Center, Guangzhou, China

    Yaodong Du

  7. Guangdong Provincial Institute of Public Health, Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China

    Tao Liu, Jianpeng Xiao, Weilin Zeng, Xing Li & Wenjun Ma

  8. Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, China

    Yonghui Zhang

  9. Guangzhou First Aid Medical Service Control Center, Guangzhou, China

    Yongqing Qi, Jianjun Ye & Shuangming Li

  10. Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Affiliated Guangzhou First Municipal People’s Hospital Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510180, China

    Wanglin Li

  11. Key Laboratory of Immunology, Sino-French Hoffmann Institute, School of Basic Medical Sciences; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Allergy & Clinical Immunology, The Second Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 511436, China

    Xinyu Chen

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Lin, H., Tao, J., Kan, H. et al. Ambient particulate matter air pollution associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome in Guangzhou, China. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 28, 392–399 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-018-0034-0

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