TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term improvement of air quality associated with lung function benefits in Chinese young adults
T2 - A quasi-experiment cohort study
AU - Feng, Shurong
AU - Miao, Jiaming
AU - Wang, Minghao
AU - Jiang, Ning
AU - Dou, Siqi
AU - Yang, Liu
AU - Ma, Yang
AU - Yu, Pei
AU - Ye, Tingting
AU - Wu, Yao
AU - Wen, Bo
AU - Lu, Peng
AU - Li, Shanshan
AU - Guo, Yuming
N1 - Funding Information:
The study was supported by Taishan Scholar Program. PL was sponsored by Shandong Province Natural Science Foundation ( ZR202103050697 ) and Shandong Province Environmental Health Innovative Team . YG was supported by Career Development Fellowship ( GNT1163693 ) and Leader Fellowship ( GNT2008813 ) of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council . SL was supported by an Emerging Leader Fellowship of the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council ( GNT2009866 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022
PY - 2022/12/10
Y1 - 2022/12/10
N2 - Introduction: Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with lung function impairment. However, whether long-term improvements in air quality could improve lung function is unclear. Objectives: To examine whether the reduction of long-term air pollution was associated with lung function improvement among Chinese young adults. Methods: We conducted a prospective quasi-experiment cohort study with 1731 college students in Shandong, China from September 2019 to September 2020, covering COVID-19 lockdown period. Data on air pollution concentrations were obtained from China Environmental Monitoring Station. Lung function indicators included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1st second (FEV1) and forced expiratory flow at 50 % of FVC (FEF50%). We used linear mixed-effects model to examine the associations between the change of air pollutants concentrations and the change of lung function, and additional adjustments for indoor air pollution (IAP) source. We also conducted stratified analysis by sex. Results: Compared with 2019, the mean FVC, FEV1 and FEF50% were elevated by 414.4 ml, 321.5 ml, and 28.4 ml/s respectively in 2020. Every 5 μg/m3 decrease in annual average PM2.5 concentrations was associated with 36.0 ml [95 % confidence interval (CI):6.0, 66.0 ml], 46.1 ml (95 % CI:16.7, 75.5 ml), and 124.2 ml/s (95 % CI:69.5, 178.9 ml/s) increment in the FVC, FEV1, and FEF50%, respectively. Similar associations were found for PM10. The estimated impact was almost unchanged after adjusting for IAP source. There was no significant effect difference between males and females. Conclusion: Long-term improvement of air quality can improve lung function among young adults. Stricter policies on improving air quality are needed to protect human health.
AB - Introduction: Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with lung function impairment. However, whether long-term improvements in air quality could improve lung function is unclear. Objectives: To examine whether the reduction of long-term air pollution was associated with lung function improvement among Chinese young adults. Methods: We conducted a prospective quasi-experiment cohort study with 1731 college students in Shandong, China from September 2019 to September 2020, covering COVID-19 lockdown period. Data on air pollution concentrations were obtained from China Environmental Monitoring Station. Lung function indicators included forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1st second (FEV1) and forced expiratory flow at 50 % of FVC (FEF50%). We used linear mixed-effects model to examine the associations between the change of air pollutants concentrations and the change of lung function, and additional adjustments for indoor air pollution (IAP) source. We also conducted stratified analysis by sex. Results: Compared with 2019, the mean FVC, FEV1 and FEF50% were elevated by 414.4 ml, 321.5 ml, and 28.4 ml/s respectively in 2020. Every 5 μg/m3 decrease in annual average PM2.5 concentrations was associated with 36.0 ml [95 % confidence interval (CI):6.0, 66.0 ml], 46.1 ml (95 % CI:16.7, 75.5 ml), and 124.2 ml/s (95 % CI:69.5, 178.9 ml/s) increment in the FVC, FEV1, and FEF50%, respectively. Similar associations were found for PM10. The estimated impact was almost unchanged after adjusting for IAP source. There was no significant effect difference between males and females. Conclusion: Long-term improvement of air quality can improve lung function among young adults. Stricter policies on improving air quality are needed to protect human health.
KW - Air quality
KW - Cohort study
KW - Long-term exposure
KW - Lung function
KW - Quasi-experiment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136454242&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158150
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158150
M3 - Article
C2 - 35995154
AN - SCOPUS:85136454242
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 851
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
IS - Part 1
M1 - 158150
ER -