Lagged Effects of Exposure to Air Pollutants on the Risk of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Highly Polluted Region

Yuqing Feng; Jing Wei; Maogui Hu; Chengdong Xu; Tao Li; Jinfeng Wang; Wei Chen

doi:10.3390/ijerph19095752

Lagged Effects of Exposure to Air Pollutants on the Risk of Pulmonary Tuberculosis in a Highly Polluted Region

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 9;19(9):5752. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095752.

Authors

Yuqing Feng^{1

2}, Jing Wei³, Maogui Hu^{1

4}, Chengdong Xu¹, Tao Li⁵, Jinfeng Wang¹, Wei Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographical Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
² College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA.
⁴ Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource Development and Application, Nanjing 210023, China.
⁵ Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing 102206, China.

Abstract

Background: Although significant correlations have been observed between air pollutants and the development of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in many developed countries, data are scarce for developing and highly polluted regions.

Method: A combined Poisson generalized linear regression-distributed lag nonlinear model was used to determine the associations between long-term exposure (2005-2017) to air pollutants and the risk of PTB in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

Results: The monthly PTB cases exhibited a fluctuating downward trend. For each 10 μg/m³ increase in concentration, the maximum lag-specific risk and cumulative relative risk (RR) were 1.011 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0091.012, lag: 3 months) and 1.042 (1.036-1.048, 5 months) for PM_2.5, and 1.023 (1.015-1.031, 0 months) and 1.041 (1.026-1.055, 2 months) for NO₂. The risk of PTB was negatively correlated with O₃ exposure, and the minimum lag-specific risk and cumulative RR were 0.991 (95% CI: 0.987-0.994, lag: 0 months) and 0.974 (0.968-0.981, 4 months), respectively. No age-dependent effects were observed.

Conclusions: Our results revealed potential associations between outdoor exposure to PM_2.5, NO₂, and O₃ and the risk of PTB. Further research should explore the corresponding interactions and potential mechanisms.

Keywords: air pollution; epidemic characteristics; pulmonary tuberculosis.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollutants* / toxicity
Air Pollution* / adverse effects
Air Pollution* / analysis
China
Environmental Exposure / adverse effects
Environmental Exposure / analysis
Humans
Nitrogen Dioxide
Particulate Matter / analysis
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary* / epidemiology

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Nitrogen Dioxide

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project (grant numbers 2017ZX10201302), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 41771434, 41531179).