Associations of particulate matter with dementia and mild cognitive impairment in China: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Outdoor light at night and depressive symptoms in male veterans: a multicenter cross-sectional study in China

Previous studies have indicated depression was associated with environmental exposures, but evidence is limited for the association between outdoor light at night (LAN) and depression. This study aims to examine the association between long-term outdoor LAN exposure and depressive symptoms using data from the Chinese Veteran Clinical Research platform. A total of 6445 male veterans were selected from 277 veteran communities in 18 cities of China during 2009‒2011. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using the Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale. Outdoor LAN was estimated using the Global Radiance Calibrated Nighttime Lights data. The odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals of depressive symptoms at the high level of outdoor LAN exposure against the low level during the 1 years before the investigation was 1.49 (1.15, 1.92) with p-value for trend < 0.01, and those associated with per interquartile range increase in LAN exposure was 1.22 (1.06, 1.40).

Variations of Personal Exposure to Particulate Nitrated Phenols from Heating Energy Renovation in China: The First Assessment on Associated Toxicological Impacts with Particle Size Distributions

The clean heating renovation has been executed for improving particulate matter (PM) pollution in northern China since 2017. This study determined particle size distributions of nitrated phenols (NPs) in personal exposure samples and their associations with biomarkers in saliva and urine from homemakers in rural households of the Fenwei Plain, China. Remarkable reductions of 28.6-66.3% and 52.2-82.4% on PMs and total quantified NPs, respectively, were found with the substitutions of raw coal chunk and biomass by advanced clean coal. 4-Nitroguaiacol (4NG) showed the largest reductions of 81.2% among individual NP. In addition, the clean coal efficiently reduced interleukin-6 (IL-6) and 8-hydrox-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) in the urine and saliva by 12-72%. Furthermore, significant positive correlations between urinary 8-OHdG with most of NPs in all particle sizes, urinary IL-6 with 4NG for particles with D_p > 2.5 μm and D_p = 0.25-1.0 μm and salivary IL-6 with 4-nitrocatechol and 4-methyl-5-nitrocatechol for particles with D_p > 2.5 μm, D_p = 0.5-1.0 μm, and D_p < 0.25 μm were observed but not for salivary 8-OHdG or PMs. The results provide scientific support for the clean energy reformation and demonstrate the strong particle size dependence between NPs and biomarkers.

Health Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Ambient PM2.5 in Asia-Pacific: a Systematic Review of Cohort Studies

Abstract

Purpose of Review

Health effects of long-term exposure to ambient PM_2.5 vary with regions, and 75% of the deaths attributable to PM_2.5 were estimated in Asia-Pacific in 2017. This systematic review aims to summarize the existing evidence from cohort studies on health effects of long-term exposure to ambient PM_2.5 in Asia-Pacific.

Recent Findings

In Asia-Pacific, 60 cohort studies were conducted in Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. They consistently supported associations of long-term exposure to PM_2.5 with increased all-cause/non-accidental and cardiovascular mortality as well as with incidence of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, kidney diseases, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Evidence for other health effects was limited. Inequalities were identified in PM_2.5-health associations.

Summary

To optimize air pollution control and public health prevention, further studies need to assess the health effects of long-term PM_2.5 exposure in understudied regions, the health effects of long-term PM_2.5 exposure on mortality and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, renal diseases, dementia and lung cancer, and inequalities in PM_2.5-health associations. Study design, especially exposure assessment methods, should be improved.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40572-022-00344-w.