Characteristics of patients with endometrial hyperplasia under different air quality index conditions

Fung-Wei Chang; Ren-Jun Hsu; Shu-Hui Liu

doi:10.1016/j.tjog.2019.01.021

Characteristics of patients with endometrial hyperplasia under different air quality index conditions

Taiwan J Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Mar;58(2):282-287. doi: 10.1016/j.tjog.2019.01.021.

Authors

Fung-Wei Chang¹, Ren-Jun Hsu², Shu-Hui Liu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Superintendent, Tri-Service General Hospital Penghu Branch, National, Defense Medical Center, Penghu Branch, Taiwan; Defence Medical Center, Penghu Branch, Taiwan.
² Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan; Cancer Medicine Center of Buddhist Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan; Department of Pathology and Graduate Institute of Pathology and Parasitology, The Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan.
³ Department of Health Care and Social Work, Yu Da University of Science and Technology, Miaoli, Taiwan; Department of Leisure Management, Yu Da University of Science and Technology, Miaoli, Taiwan. Electronic address: liush@ydu.edu.tw.

PMID: 30910154
DOI: 10.1016/j.tjog.2019.01.021

Abstract

Objective: Air pollution has been widely recognized to pose a threat to health. Urban outdoor air pollution was listed as the 14th biggest risk factor for global deaths in 2004 in the Global Health Risks report published by the World Health Organization in 2009. Many past studies have indicated that exposure to environmental contaminants promotes changes in the internal mechanisms of diseases, including the infection of various systems in the body, hormonal changes, and vascular proliferation. These changes may be related to the severity of endometrial hyperplasia. Therefore, this study used the air quality monitoring data of the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) to examine the effects of air pollutant concentration on patients with endometrial hyperplasia.

Materials and methods: This population-based nationwide study used data for 2002-2013 from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Patients who developed endometrial hyperplasia before 2002 were excluded. In total, 14,883 patients with endometrial hyperplasia were tracked. The exposure levels and air quality index (AQI) values in this study were based on the taiwan air quality monitoring network data collected by the EPA from 2000 to 2013. The data were further divided into the good air quality group (AQI ≤ 50) and poor air quality group (AQI > 50). The study used linear regression model to estimate the correlation linking air pollutant concentration with endometrial hyperplasia.

Results: The results indicated that, in comparison to endometrial hyperplasia patients who were exposed to air with good quality, those exposed to air with poor quality had a higher average age (p < 0.001) and higher proportion of living in southern Taiwan (p < 0.001), as well as higher rates of diabetes (p < 0.001), hyperlipidemia (p < 0.001), hypertension, cerebrovascular diseases (p = 0.024), cerebral vascular accidents (p = 0.024), and chronic kidney disease (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The patients with endometrial hyperplasia in poor AQI area had severe comorbidity. Thus, attention must be paid to the improvement of air quality and the implementation of preventive measures against contaminants.

Keywords: Air quality index; Endometrial hyperplasia; Pollution exposure.

MeSH terms

Adult
Aged
Air Pollutants / adverse effects
Air Pollutants / analysis*
Air Pollution / adverse effects
Air Pollution / analysis*
Comorbidity
Endometrial Hyperplasia / epidemiology*
Environmental Monitoring
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Population Surveillance
Retrospective Studies
Severity of Illness Index
Taiwan / epidemiology
Young Adult

Substances

Air Pollutants