School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14-4AS, UK.
Maxwell Institute for Mathematical Sciences, School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14-4AS, UK.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Dec 21;17(24):9581. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17249581.
Human exposure to particulate air pollution (e.g., PM) can lead to adverse health effects, with compelling evidence that it can increase morbidity and mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular disease. More recently, there has also been evidence that long-term environmental exposure to particulate air pollution is associated with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and dementia. There are many occupations that may expose workers to airborne particles and that some exposures in the workplace are very similar to environmental particulate pollution. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the UK Biobank cohort to verify the association between environmental particulate air pollution (PM) exposure and T2DM and dementia, and to investigate if occupational exposure to particulates that are similar to those found in environmental air pollution could increase the odds of developing these diseases. The UK Biobank dataset comprises of over 500,000 participants from all over the UK. Environmental exposure variables were used from the UK Biobank. To estimate occupational exposure both the UK Biobank's data and information from a job exposure matrix, specifically developed for UK Biobank (Airborne Chemical Exposure-Job Exposure Matrix (ACE JEM)), were used. The outcome measures were participants with T2DM and dementia. In appropriately adjusted models, environmental exposure to PM was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.02 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.03) per unit exposure for developing T2DM, while PM was associated with an odds ratio of 1.06 (95% CI 0.96 to 1.16) per unit exposure for developing dementia. These environmental results align with existing findings in the published literature. Five occupational exposures (dust, fumes, diesel, mineral, and biological dust in the most recent job estimated with the ACE JEM) were investigated and the risks for most exposures for T2DM and for all the exposures for dementia were not significantly increased in the adjusted models. This was confirmed in a subgroup of participants where a full occupational history was available allowed an estimate of workplace exposures. However, when not adjusting for gender, some of the associations become significant, which suggests that there might be a bias between the occupational assessments for men and women. The results of the present study do not provide clear evidence of an association between occupational exposure to particulate matter and T2DM or dementia.
人体接触颗粒物空气污染（例如 PM）会导致不良健康影响，有确凿证据表明，它会增加呼吸道和心血管疾病的发病率和死亡率。最近，也有证据表明，长期暴露于颗粒物空气污染与 2 型糖尿病（T2DM）和痴呆症有关。许多职业可能会使工人接触到空气中的颗粒物，而一些工作场所的暴露与环境颗粒物污染非常相似。我们对英国生物库队列进行了横断面分析，以验证环境颗粒物空气污染（PM）暴露与 T2DM 和痴呆症之间的关联，并探讨是否接触与环境空气中发现的颗粒物相似的职业性颗粒物会增加患这些疾病的几率。英国生物库数据集包含来自英国各地的 50 多万名参与者。使用英国生物库中的环境暴露变量。为了估计职业暴露，我们使用了英国生物库的数据和专门为英国生物库开发的职业暴露矩阵（Airborne Chemical Exposure-Job Exposure Matrix，ACE JEM）中的信息。结局指标是患有 T2DM 和痴呆症的参与者。在适当调整的模型中，环境暴露于 PM 与 T2DM 的发生风险比（OR）为 1.02（95%CI 1.00 至 1.03）/单位暴露，而 PM 与痴呆症的发生风险比为 1.06（95%CI 0.96 至 1.16）/单位暴露。这些环境结果与已发表文献中的现有发现一致。研究了 5 种职业暴露（粉尘、烟雾、柴油、矿物和最近用 ACE JEM 估计的最新工作中的生物性粉尘），调整后的模型中，大多数暴露与 T2DM 的风险以及所有暴露与痴呆症的风险均无显著增加。在有完整职业史的参与者亚组中，这一点得到了证实，该亚组可以估计工作场所暴露。然而，当不根据性别进行调整时，一些关联变得显著，这表明男性和女性的职业评估之间可能存在偏差。本研究的结果并未提供明确证据表明职业性颗粒物暴露与 T2DM 或痴呆症之间存在关联。
