Recent studies found the intrusion and retention of exogenous fine particles into joints, but epidemiological data for long- and intermediate-term exposure associations are scare. Here, all urban working, retired employee, and rural residents (16.78 million) in Beijing from January 1, 2011 to December 31, 2019 were included to investigate the effects of long- and intermediate-term ambient particulate exposure on development of osteoarthritis. We identified 1,742,067 participants as first-visit patients with osteoarthritis. For each interquartile range increase in annual PM2.5 (23.32 μg/m3) and PM10 (23.92 μg/m3) exposure concentration, the pooled hazard ratios were respectively 1.238 (95% CI: 1.228, 1.249) and 1.178 (95% CI: 1.168, 1.189) for first osteoarthritis outpatient visits. Moreover, age at first osteoarthritis outpatient visits significantly decreased by 4.52 (95% CI: 3.45 to 5.40) days per μg/m3 for annual PM2.5 exposure at below 67.85 μg/m3. Finally, among the six constituents analyzed, black carbon appears to be the most important component associated with the association between PM2.5 exposure and the three osteoarthritis-related outcomes.
Keywords: PM2.5; PM2.5 constituents; epidemiology; osteoarthritis-related outcomes; public health.