Relative impact of meteorological factors and air pollutants on childhood allergic diseases in Shanghai, China

Yabin Hu; Zhiwei Xu; Fan Jiang; Shenghui Li; Shijian Liu; Meiqin Wu; Chonghuai Yan; Jianguo Tan; Guangjun Yu; Yi Hu; Yong Yin; Shilu Tong

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135975

Relative impact of meteorological factors and air pollutants on childhood allergic diseases in Shanghai, China

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Mar 1:706:135975. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135975. Epub 2019 Dec 9.

Authors

Yabin Hu¹, Zhiwei Xu², Fan Jiang³, Shenghui Li⁴, Shijian Liu¹, Meiqin Wu⁵, Chonghuai Yan⁵, Jianguo Tan⁶, Guangjun Yu⁷, Yi Hu⁷, Yong Yin⁸, Shilu Tong⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
³ Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Pediatric Translational Medicine Institution, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁴ School of Public Health, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Environmental and Child Health, Xinhua Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
⁶ Shanghai Climate Center, Shanghai, China.
⁷ Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai, China.
⁸ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: yinyong@scmc.com.cn.
⁹ Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China; School of Public Health and Social Work, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia; School of Public Health, Institute of Environment and Population Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China. Electronic address: tongshilu@scmc.com.cn.

PMID: 31841850
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135975

Abstract

Background: Non-optimal weather conditions and air pollution pose a significant threat to children's health. However, the relative impact of different environmental exposures on childhood allergic diseases remains unclear.

Objectives: This study aimed to quantify the relative impact of meteorological factors and air pollutants on childhood allergic diseases in Shanghai, China.

Methods: Data on clinical visits due to childhood asthma, allergic rhinitis (AR) and atopic dermatitis (AD) from 2007 to 2017 in Shanghai were collected from Shanghai Children's Medical Center and Xinhua Hospital. The meteorological data (i.e. daily mean temperature, temperature difference, air pressure, air pressure difference, precipitation, relative humidity, sunshine and wind speed) for the same period were obtained from the Shanghai Meteorological Center. Air pollution data (PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂ and O₃) were provided by the Shanghai Environmental Protection Agency. Quasi-Poisson regression with distributed lag non-linear models and Poisson regression combined with generalized linear models were used to assess the relative impact of meteorological factors and air pollutants on childhood allergic diseases.

Results: There were a total of 2,410,392 cases of childhood allergic diseases, including 975,771 asthma, 646,975 AR and 787,646 AD. Most of environmental factors were significantly associated with childhood allergic diseases. Daily mean temperature (standard β: -0.076 (95% confidence interval (CI): -0.086, -0.067)) and air pressure (standard β: 0.075 (95% CI: 0.068, 0.082)) seemed to play more important roles than other environmental factors in the occurrence of these allergic diseases. The numbers of these allergic diseases attributable to an interquartile range (IQR) change in meteorological factors also appeared to be greater than those attributable to an IQR change in air pollutants.

Conclusions: Both climatic variation and air pollution were associated with childhood allergic diseases, but the former appeared to play a more important role in the occurrence of these diseases. These findings may have significant implications for the development of tailored strategies to prevent these rapidly-increasing diseases worldwide.

Keywords: Adaptive strategy; Air pollution; Childhood allergic diseases; Meteorological factors.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants
Air Pollution
Child
China
Drug Hypersensitivity
Humans
Hypersensitivity*
Meteorological Concepts
Particulate Matter
Weather

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter