Cui Wei, Gao Hongxia, Zhu Liran, Xu Yuanyuan, Liu Haipeng
Department of Scientific Research, Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital (Anhui Hospital, Children's Hospital of Fudan University), Hefei, Anhui 230051,China; Anhui Institute of Pediatric Research, Hefei, Anhui 230051, China; Children's Medical Center of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui 230032, China.
Department of Gynecology and Obstetric, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui 230000, China.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2025 Jan 15;290:117590. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.117590. Epub 2024 Dec 24.
The relationship between air pollution exposure and non-allergic rhinitis (NAR) risk in children is underexplored and uncertain. Therefore, the impact of numerous air pollutants on the incidence of NAR in a Chinese pediatric population were investigated. Data on daily outpatient visits for NAR among children aged 0-18 years from 2015 to 2021 were obtained from Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital. A quasi-Poisson generalized linear regression model combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model was applied to evaluate the association between air pollution and outpatient visits for childhood NAR. A total of 38233 NAR outpatients were included and a positive association and cumulative effects between air pollution and childhood NAR were observed. The relative risks (RRs) and 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CIs) for childhood NAR at the 75th percentile of NO, SO, PM, PM, O, and CO against their minimum concentrations were 1.157 (95 % CI: 1.089, 1.23), 1.078 (1.005, 1.157), 1.168 (1.089, 1.252), 1.076 (1.02, 1.136), 1.033 (0.961, 1.11) and 1.07 (1.01, 1.134), respectively. The cumulative effects of the air pollutants were pronounced, which was much higher than each single effects. Furthermore, the risk estimates for childhood NAR during the cold season were higher than those in the warm season. Lastly, boys and school children were found to be more vulnerable to air pollutants than girls and preschool children. All these findings suggest that air pollutants have adverse effects on childhood NAR, even at levels below those recommended by the air quality guidelines. Our study results highlight the significance of paying attention to the effects of air pollutants to prevent NAR occurrence, particularly in boys and school children and during the cold season. Therefore, stronger control measures to mitigate air pollution must be implemented to decrease NAR incidence in the pediatric population.
空气污染暴露与儿童非过敏性鼻炎（NAR）风险之间的关系尚未得到充分研究，且存在不确定性。因此，本研究调查了多种空气污染物对中国儿童群体中NAR发病率的影响。研究数据来自安徽省儿童医院，涵盖了2015年至2021年期间0至18岁儿童因NAR进行的每日门诊就诊情况。采用准泊松广义线性回归模型结合分布滞后非线性模型，评估空气污染与儿童NAR门诊就诊之间的关联。共纳入38233例NAR门诊患者，观察到空气污染与儿童NAR之间存在正相关及累积效应。相对于其最低浓度，NO、SO、PM、PM、O和CO第75百分位数时儿童NAR的相对风险（RRs）及95%置信区间（95% CIs）分别为1.157（95% CI：1.089，1.23）、1.078（1.005，1.157）、1.168（1.089，1.252）、1.076（1.02，1.136）、1.033（0.961，1.11）和1.07（1.01，1.134）。空气污染物的累积效应显著，远高于单一效应。此外，寒冷季节儿童NAR的风险估计高于温暖季节。最后，发现男孩和学龄儿童比女孩和学龄前儿童更容易受到空气污染物的影响。所有这些研究结果表明，即使空气污染物水平低于空气质量指南推荐水平，也会对儿童NAR产生不利影响。我们的研究结果凸显了关注空气污染物影响以预防NAR发生的重要性，尤其是在男孩、学龄儿童以及寒冷季节。因此，必须实施更强有力的控制措施来减轻空气污染，以降低儿童群体中NAR的发病率。
