The association between PM and frailty: evidence from 122 cities in China and 7 countries in Europe.

BACKGROUND

The accelerated aging process worldwide is placing a heavy burden on countries. PM particulate matter exposure is a significant factor affecting human health and is crucial in the aging process.

METHODS

We utilized data from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the Survey of Health, Aging, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) to study the relationship between PM exposure and the frailty index. Acquire PM exposure data for China and Europe, match them according to geographic location within the database. Our study used frailty index to evaluate frailty, which comprises 29 items. We examined the association between PM and frailty index using fixed-effects regression models and Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

RESULTS

We first examined the association between PM and frailty index using fixed-effects regression models, revealing a notable positive link across populations in China (coefficient = 0.0003, P = 0.0380) and Europe (Coefficient = 0.0019, P < 0.0001). This suggests that PM exposure is a significant risk factor for frailty, leading to accelerated frailty. Moreover, our MR analysis uncovered a possible causal association (OR = 1.2933, 95%CI: 1.2045-1.3820, P < 0.0001) between PM exposure and the frailty index.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings indicate that long-term exposure to PM in the environment is a risk factor for physical frailty and may have a potential causal relationship. Given the rapid global aging trend, public health measures are needed to reduce PM concentrations and prevent frailty.