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Gui SY, Wang XC, Qiao JC, Xiao DC, Hu CY, Tao FB, Liu DW, Yi XL, Jiang ZX. Short-term exposure to air pollution and outpatient visits for conjunctivitis: a time-series analysis in Urumqi, China. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2023; 30:66400-66416. [PMID: 37095216 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-26995-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Conjunctivitis is an inflammatory disease of the conjunctival tissue caused by a variety of causes; despite the conjunctiva being directly exposed to the external atmospheric environment, the important role of air pollution is not fully evaluated, especially in areas with poor air quality undergoing rapid economic and industrial development. Information on 59,731 outpatient conjunctivitis visits from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020 was obtained from the Ophthalmology Department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University (Urumqi, Xinjiang, China), and data on six air pollutants including particulate matter with a median aerometric diameter of less than 10 and 2.5 mm (PM10 and PM2.5, respectively), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) from eleven standard urban background fixed air quality monitors were also recorded. A time-series analysis design and a quasi-Poisson generalized linear regression model combined with a distributed lagged nonlinear model (DLNM) were used to fit the effect of exposure to air pollutants on the risk of conjunctivitis outpatient visits. Further subgroup analyses were conducted for gender, age, and season, as well as the type of conjunctivitis. Single and multi-pollutant models showed that exposure to PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, and O3 was associated with increased risk of outpatient conjunctivitis visits on the lag 0 day and various other lag days. Variations in the effect estimates on direction and magnitude were found in different subgroup analyses. We conducted the first time-series analysis with the longest duration as well as the largest sample size in Northwest China, which provides evidence that outpatient conjunctivitis visits is significantly associated with air pollution in Urumqi, China. Meanwhile, our results demonstrate the effectiveness of SO2 reduction in reducing the risk of outpatient conjunctivitis visits in the Urumqi region and reaffirm the need to implement special air pollution control measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Si-Yu Gui
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678 Furong Road, Hefei, 230601, China
- Department of Clinical Medicine, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China
| | - Xin-Chen Wang
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678 Furong Road, Hefei, 230601, China
| | - Jian-Chao Qiao
- Department of Clinical Medicine, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China
| | - Dun-Cheng Xiao
- Department of Clinical Medicine, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China
| | - Cheng-Yang Hu
- Department of Humanistic Medicine, School of Humanistic Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China
| | - Fang-Biao Tao
- Department of Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China
- Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China
- Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics, Anhui Medical University, No. 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, Anhui, China
| | - Dong-Wei Liu
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678 Furong Road, Hefei, 230601, China
| | - Xiang-Long Yi
- Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, 137 Liyu Shan Road, Ürümqi, 830011, China
| | - Zheng-Xuan Jiang
- Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678 Furong Road, Hefei, 230601, China.
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