Association of air pollution and genetic risks with incidence of elderly-onset atopic dermatitis: A prospective cohort study

Xiaoyu Gu; Danrong Jing; Yi Xiao; Guowei Zhou; Songchun Yang; Hong Liu; Xiang Chen; Minxue Shen

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114683

Association of air pollution and genetic risks with incidence of elderly-onset atopic dermatitis: A prospective cohort study

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2023 Mar 15:253:114683. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114683. Epub 2023 Feb 27.

Authors

Xiaoyu Gu¹, Danrong Jing¹, Yi Xiao¹, Guowei Zhou¹, Songchun Yang², Hong Liu³, Xiang Chen⁴, Minxue Shen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Dermatology | Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease | Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China; National Engineering Research Center of Personalized Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology, Changsha 410008, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Changsha 410008, China; Furong Laboratory, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China.
² Department of Dermatology | Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease | Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China; National Engineering Research Center of Personalized Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology, Changsha 410008, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Changsha 410008, China; Furong Laboratory, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China. Electronic address: yangsongchun@csu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Dermatology | Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease | Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China; National Engineering Research Center of Personalized Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology, Changsha 410008, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Changsha 410008, China; Furong Laboratory, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China. Electronic address: hongliu1014@csu.edu.cn.
⁴ Department of Dermatology | Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease | Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China; National Engineering Research Center of Personalized Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology, Changsha 410008, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Changsha 410008, China; Furong Laboratory, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China. Electronic address: chenxiangck@csu.edu.cn.
⁵ Department of Dermatology | Hunan Engineering Research Center of Skin Health and Disease | Hunan Key Laboratory of Skin Cancer and Psoriasis, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410008, China; National Engineering Research Center of Personalized Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology, Changsha 410008, China; National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Disorders (Xiangya Hospital), Changsha 410008, China; Furong Laboratory, Changsha, Hunan 410008, China; Department of Social Medicine and Health Management, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410013, China. Electronic address: shenmx1988@csu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36857917
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2023.114683

Abstract

Background: Elderly-onset atopic dermatitis (AD) is a remarkable subtype and has been put on the agenda owing to its difficulty to control. Understanding the influence of genetic and environmental exposures is crucial to preventing elderly-onset AD.

Objectives: To explore the association between genes and air pollution on incident elderly-onset AD.

Material and methods: This study was based on UK Biobank that recruited over 500,000 participants. The genetic risks were categorized into low, intermediate, and high groups according to tertiles of polygenic risk scores. Mixed exposure to various air pollutants was assessed using the weighted quantile sum (WQS) and also categorized based on tertiles. Within each genetic risk group, whether air pollutant mixture was associated with incident elderly-onset AD was estimated.

Results: 337,910 participants were included in the final analysis, and the mean age was 57.1. The median years for follow-up were 12.0, and the incident cases of AD were 2545. The medium and high air pollution mixture was significantly associated with incident AD compared with the low pollution group, with HRs of 1.182 (P = 0.003) and 1.359 (P < 0.001), respectively. In contrast, HR for medium and high genetic susceptibility was only 1.065 (P = 0.249) and 1.153 (P = 0.008). The population-attributable fraction of air pollution and genetic risk was 15.5 % (P < 0.001) and 6.4 % (P = 0.004). Additionally, compared with low genetic risk and low air pollution, high genetic risk and high air pollution was significantly associated with the incidence of elderly-onset AD with a HR of up to 1.523 (P < 0.001). There were no interactive effects between each group of genetic risks and air pollution. When grouped by sex, females could observe a stronger effect by genetic and air pollutant mixture exposure.

Conclusion: Air pollution and genetics both independently enhance the risk of newly developed AD, and the effect of air pollutants is stronger than the investigated genes.

Keywords: Air pollution; Atopic dermatitis; Elderly-onset; Gene-environment interaction; Genetic risk.

MeSH terms

Aged
Air Pollutants* / adverse effects
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / adverse effects
Air Pollution* / analysis
Dermatitis, Atopic* / epidemiology
Dermatitis, Atopic* / genetics
Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Female
Humans
Incidence
Middle Aged
Particulate Matter / analysis
Prospective Studies
Risk Factors

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter