Wu Xinglu, Wang Fei, Xu Xin, Liang Qian, Yang Yanqing, Tang Yunfeng, Li Jing
School of Public Health, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China.
School of Stomatology, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, China.
Transl Pediatr. 2025 Mar 31;14(3):409-421. doi: 10.21037/tp-24-438. Epub 2025 Mar 26.
Previous studies have focused on the effects of air pollution on lung function in children with respiratory diseases, and there is insufficient evidence on healthy children. This cross-sectional study therefore aimed to investigate the relationship between air pollutants and lung function in healthy children.
We collected lung function measurements between December 2016 and December 2020 from a total of 780 healthy children aged 7-11 years old in an elementary school in Jinan City. Air pollutant data, including particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm (PM) and ≤10 µm (PM), sulphur dioxide (SO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O), were collected from the nearest monitoring stations to the school. Multiple linear regression models were developed to assess the relationship between pollutants and children's lung function indices.
Increasing pollutant concentrations were associated with decreases in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV), peak expiratory flow (PEF), forced expiratory flow at 25% (FEF) and forced expiratory flow at 75% (FEF). In addition, this effect had a lag effect and a cumulative lag effect, especially at lag 3 d, with significant decreases in FEV and PEF. Specifically, for every 10 µg/m increase in the concentrations of PM, PM, SO, NO, and CO, the FEV decreased by 1.05 mL [95% confidence interval (CI): -2.02, -0.08], 1.18 mL (95% CI: -1.94, -0.42), 4.96 mL (95% CI: -8.08, -1.84), 4.94 mL (95% CI: -7.59, -2.28), and 0.11 mL (95% CI: -0.20, -0.01), respectively. For every 10 µg/m increase in PM, SO, NO, and CO, PEF decreased by 3.80 mL (95% CI: -6.51, -1.08), 16.73 mL (95% CI: -27.83, -5.63), 17 mL (95% CI: -26.44, -7.55), and 0.39 mL (95% CI: -0.72, -0.05), respectively. Boys' lung function was more sensitive to pollutants than girls'.
Short-term exposure to air pollutants is harmful to children's health and appropriate protective measures should be taken to minimize the adverse effects of air pollution on children's health.
以往研究主要聚焦于空气污染对患有呼吸系统疾病儿童肺功能的影响，而关于健康儿童的证据不足。因此，这项横断面研究旨在调查健康儿童体内空气污染物与肺功能之间的关系。
我们收集了2016年12月至2020年12月期间济南市一所小学780名7至11岁健康儿童的肺功能测量数据。从学校附近的监测站收集空气污染物数据，包括空气动力学直径≤2.5微米（PM）和≤10微米（PM）的颗粒物、二氧化硫（SO）、二氧化氮（NO）、一氧化碳（CO）和臭氧（O）。我们建立了多元线性回归模型，以评估污染物与儿童肺功能指标之间的关系。
污染物浓度增加与用力肺活量（FVC）、1秒用力呼气量（FEV）、呼气峰值流速（PEF）、25%用力呼气流量（FEF）和75%用力呼气流量（FEF）下降有关。此外，这种影响存在滞后效应和累积滞后效应，尤其是在滞后3天，FEV和PEF显著下降。具体而言，PM、PM、SO、NO和CO浓度每增加10微克/立方米，FEV分别下降1.05毫升[95%置信区间（CI）：-2.02，-0.08]、1.18毫升（95%CI：-1.94，-0.42）、4.96毫升（95%CI：-8.08，-1.84）、4.94毫升（95%CI：-7.59，-2.28）和0.11毫升（95%CI：-0.20，-0.01）。PM、SO、NO和CO浓度每增加10微克/立方米，PEF分别下降3.80毫升（95%CI：-6.51，-1.08）、16.73毫升（95%CI：-27.83，-5.63）、17毫升（95%CI：-26.44，-7.55）和0.39毫升（95%CI：-0.72，-0.05）。男孩的肺功能对污染物比女孩更敏感。
短期暴露于空气污染物对儿童健康有害，应采取适当的保护措施，以尽量减少空气污染对儿童健康的不利影响。
