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•Exposure to high ozone levels was related to shortened TL and decreased mtDNA-CN.•Residential greenness exposure was positively associated with TL and mtDNA-CN.•Residential greenness ...attenuated the adverse effect of ozone on TL and mtDNA-CN.
Both ambient ozone exposure and residential greenness are linked to the aging process. However, their interactive effect on molecular biomarkers of aging (telomere length (TL) and mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNA-CN)) remains unclear.
This study was conducted among 6418 rural Chinese adults. The concentration of ambient ozone was assessed using a random forest model. Residential greenness was represented by the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Molecular biomarkers of aging (relative TL and relative mtDNA-CN) were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Generalized linear regression models were applied to investigate the independent and combined effects of ambient ozone and residential greenness on relative TL and relative mtDNA-CN.
The estimated percent changes and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) of relative TL in response to per-unit increase in ambient ozone were –22.43 % (–23.74 %, −21.18 %), −14.19 % (−15.63 %, −12.72 %) and −4.50 % (−6.57 %, −2.27 %) for participants with low (NDVI ≤ 0.53), moderate (0.54–0.55) and high (≥0.56) residential greenness exposure, respectively, while the corresponding figures of relative mtDNA-CN were −12.63 % (−13.84 %, −11.31 %), −9.52 % (−10.60 %, −8.33 %) and 2.12 % (0.20 %, 4.19 %). Furthermore, negative interactive effects between ambient ozone and residential greenness exposure on molecular biomarkers of aging were observed (Pfor interaction < 0.001 for relative TL, and 0.098 for relative mtDNA-CN).
Long-term exposure to high concentrations of ambient ozone and low residential greenness was associated with decreased mtDNA-CN and shortened TL. The adverse effect of ambient ozone exposure on molecular biomarkers of aging may be attenuated by increased residential greenness.
This study aimed to investigate the association between air pollutants and methylation of peripheral brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promoters. A total of 101 individuals were recruited in ...this panel study. BDNF promoter methylation was detected by bisulfite-PCR amplification and pyrosequencing. Participants’ exposure to air pollutants was estimated using a satellite-based random forests approach. A generalized estimated equation model with natural cubic splines was employed to examine the associations between air pollutants and BDNF promoter methylation levels. The associations between air pollution and BDNF promoter methylation showed nonlinear curves with threshold effects. The threshold concentration for the association of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) with average methylation level was 59.7 μg/m3, and that for the association of particulate matter ≤ 1 µm in diameter (PM1) with CpG2 methylation level was 70.9 μg/m3. The percent change of average methylation level at the 95th percentile of NO2 against the threshold concentration was 43.25% (95%CI: 13.10%, 73.40%), and that of CpG2 methylation at the 95th percentile of PM1 was 128.29% (95%CI: 43.27%, 213.31%). Overall, long-term exposures of PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 were associated with significant changes in BDNF promoter methylation levels with threshold effects.
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•Ambient PM and NO2 exposures were associated with BDNF promoter methylation.•It showed non-linear associations of air pollutants with BDNF promoter methylation.•Air pollution exposure showed threshold effects on BDNF promoter methylation.
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•Higher ambient temperature was associated with a reduction in semen quality in South China.•The lag 70–90 day exposure was associated with a reduction in sperm count and ...morphology.•The lag 10–14 day exposure was associated with a reduction in sperm motility.•We did not observe adverse effects of cold exposure on semen quality in South China.
Potential adverse effects of non-optimum temperatures on human semen quality have drawn much concern worldwide; however, the exposure–response relationship remains less understood.
To quantitatively assess the association between exposure to ambient temperature and semen quality in South China, and to identify potential critical exposure windows.
We conducted a longitudinal study to investigate 11,050 volunteers who lived in Guangdong province, China and intended to donate sperm in the Guangdong provincial human sperm bank during 2016–2021. Exposure to ambient temperature during 0–90 days before semen collection was assessed by extracting daily temperatures from a validated grid dataset at each subject’s residential address. Linear mixed models and linear regression models were used to perform exposure–response analyses.
During the study period, the 11,050 subjects underwent 44,564 semen analyses. Each 5 °C increase of lag 0–90 day exposure to ambient temperature was approximately linearly associated with a 3.11 (95 % confidence interval CI: 2.08, 4.14) × 106/ml, 9.31 (4.83, 13.80) × 106, 1.27 % (0.91 %, 1.62 %), 8.20 (5.33, 11.08) × 106, 1.37 % (1.01 %, 1.74 %), 8.29 (5.52, 11.06) × 106, 0.67 % (0.28 %, 1.05 %), and 4.50 (2.20, 6.80) × 106 reduction in sperm concentration, total sperm number, total motility, total motile sperm number, progressive motility, total progressive sperm number, normal forms, and total normal form sperm number, respectively (all p < 0.001), which was not significantly modified by age (all p for effect modification > 0.05). We identified a critical exposure period of 10–14 days before semen collection for sperm motility, and 70–90 days before semen collection for sperm count and morphology.
Our study provides consistent evidence that higher ambient temperature was significantly associated with a reduction in semen quality in South China. The findings highlight the needs to reduce high temperature exposures during 3 months before ejaculation to maintain better semen quality.
Abstract
To assess mortality risks and burdens associated with short-term exposure to wildfire-related fine particulate matter with diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM
2.5
), we collect daily mortality data from ...2000 to 2016 for 510 immediate regions in Brazil, the most wildfire-prone area. We integrate data from multiple sources with a chemical transport model at the global scale to isolate daily concentrations of wildfire-related PM
2.5
at a 0.25 × 0.25 resolution. With a two-stage time-series approach, we estimate (i) an increase of 3.1% (95% confidence interval CI: 2.4, 3.9%) in all-cause mortality, 2.6% (95%CI: 1.5, 3.8%) in cardiovascular mortality, and 7.7% (95%CI: 5.9, 9.5) in respiratory mortality over 0–14 days with each 10 μg/m
3
increase in daily wildfire-related PM
2.5
; (ii) 0.65% of all-cause, 0.56% of cardiovascular, and 1.60% of respiratory mortality attributable to acute exposure to wildfire-related PM
2.5
, corresponding to 121,351 all-cause deaths, 29,510 cardiovascular deaths, and 31,287 respiratory deaths during the study period. In this study, we find stronger associations in females and adults aged ≥ 60 years, and geographic difference in the mortality risks and burdens.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the changes in severity of anxiety and depression symptoms, stress and sleeping quality after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19 among ...undergraduate fresh students compared to their pre-COVID-19 measures. We used participants from the Chinese Undergraduate Cohort (CUC), a national prospective longitudinal study to examine the changes in anxiety and depression symptoms severity, stress and sleep quality after being under mass quarantine for three months. Wilcoxon matched pair signed-rank test was used to compare the lifestyle indicators. Severity of anxiety, depression symptoms, stress and sleep quality were compared with Wilcoxon signed-rank test. We used generalized estimating equation (GEE) to further quantify the change in mental health indicators and sleep quality after the COVID-19 mass quarantine compared to baseline. This study found that there was no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students in 2020 after COVID-19 mass quarantine compared with the baseline measures in 2019. There was an improvement in sleep quality and anxiety symptoms. After adjusting for age, sex, exercise habit, time spent on mobile gadgets, and time spent outdoors, year 2020 was significantly associated with severity of depression symptoms in males (OR:1.52. 95%CI:1.05–2.20,
p
-value = 0.027). Year 2020 was significantly associated with the improvement of sleeping quality in total (OR:0.45, 95%CI:0.38–0.52,
p
< 0.001) and in all the subgroups. This longitudinal study found no deterioration in mental health status among Chinese new undergraduate students after three months of mass quarantine for COVID-19.
Exposure to non-optimum ambient temperature has been linked to increased risk of total cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality; however, the adverse effects on mortality from specific types of CVD ...remain less understood.
To comprehensively investigate the association of ambient temperature with cause-specific CVD mortality, and to estimate and compare the corresponding mortality burden.
We conducted a time-stratified case-crossover study of 1000,014 CVD deaths in Jiangsu province, China during 2015–2019 using data from the China National Mortality Surveillance System. Residential daily 24-hour average temperature for each subject was extracted from a validated grid data at a spatial resolution of 0.0625° × 0.0625°. We fitted distributed lag non-linear models (DLNM) based on conditional logistic regression to quantitatively investigate the association of ambient temperature with total and cause-specific CVD mortality, which was used to further estimate mortality burden attributable to non-optimum ambient temperatures.
With adjustment for relative humidity, we observed reverse J-shaped exposure-response associations of ambient temperature with total and cause-specific CVD mortality, with minimum mortality temperatures ranging from 19.5 °C to 23.0 °C. An estimated 20.3% of the total CVD deaths were attributable to non-optimum temperatures, while the attributable fraction (AF) of mortality from chronic rheumatic heart diseases, hypertensive diseases, ischemic heart diseases (IHD), pulmonary heart disease, stroke, and sequelae of stroke was 22.4%, 23.2%, 23.3%, 20.9%, 17.6% and 21.3%, respectively. For total and cause-specific CVDs, most deaths were attributable to moderate cold temperature. We observed significantly higher mortality burden from total and certain cause-specific CVDs in adults 80 years or older and those who were widowed.
Exposure to ambient temperature was significantly associated with increased risk of cause-specific CVD mortality. The burden of CVD mortality attributable to non-optimum temperature was substantial especially in older and widowed adults, and significantly varied across specific types of CVD.
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•Ambient temperature exposure was associated with cause-specific CVD mortality.•The mortality burden of CVDs attributable to temperature was substantial.•Stronger mortality burden of CVDs was observed in older and widowed adults.•The adverse effects of temperature on CVD mortality varied across types of CVD.
Exposure to relatively low or high temperatures during the entire pregnancy significantly increase the risk of preterm birth, with hazard ratios (HRs) 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 1.03 (95%CI: ...1.02, 1.04) for relatively low (9.1 ℃, the 5th percentile) temperature and 1.55 (95%CI: 1.48, 1.61) for relatively high (23.0 ℃, the 95th percentile) temperature in comparison with the thresholds (12.0 ℃)
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Little is known about the effect of ambient temperature on preterm birth, especially for the trimester-specific effects.
To evaluate whether exposure to relatively low or high temperature during pregnancy is associated with increasing risk of preterm birth or not.
We analysed the data of a birth cohort with 1,281,859 singleton pregnancies during 2013–2014 and matched the home address of each pregnant women to the model based daily meteorological and air pollution data. Then we used the Cox proportional hazard regression models with random effect to estimate the non-linear associations between exposure to relatively low or high temperature at each trimester of pregnancy and the risk of preterm birth, after controlling for air pollution and individual-level covariates.
The overall preterm birth rate was 8.1% (104,493 preterm births). Exposure to relatively low or high temperatures during the entire pregnancy significantly increase the risk of preterm birth, with hazard ratios (HRs) 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 1.03 (95%CI: 1.02, 1.04) for relatively low (9.1 ℃, the 5th percentile) temperature and 1.55 (95%CI: 1.48, 1.61) for relatively high (23.0 ℃, the 95th percentile) temperature in comparison with the thresholds (12.0 ℃). Pregnant women at the early pregnancy (the 1st and 2nd trimester) are more susceptible to high temperatures while pregnant women at the late pregnancy (the 3rd trimester) are more susceptible to low temperatures.
These findings provide new evidence that exposure to relatively low or high temperatures during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth, which can serve as scientific evidence for prevention of preterm birth.
Wildfire imposes a high mortality burden on Brazil. However, there is a limited assessment of the health economic losses attributable to wildfire-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5).
We collected ...daily time-series data on all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality from 510 immediate regions in Brazil during 2000–2016. The chemical transport model GEOS-Chem driven with Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED), in combination with ground monitored data and machine learning was used to estimate wildfire-related PM2.5 data at a resolution of 0.25° × 0.25°. A time-series design was applied in each immediate region to assess the association between economic losses due to mortality and wildfire-related PM2.5 and the estimates were pooled at the national level using a random-effect meta-analysis. We used a meta-regression model to explore the modification effect of GDP and its sectors (agriculture, industry, and service) on economic losses.
During 2000–2016, a total of US$81.08 billion economic losses (US$5.07 billion per year) due to mortality were attributable to wildfire-related PM2.5 in Brazil, accounting for 0.68% of economic losses and equivalent to approximately 0.14% of Brazil’s GDP. The attributable fraction (AF) of economic losses due to wildfire-related PM2.5 was positively associated with the proportion of GDP from agriculture, while negatively associated with the proportion of GDP from service.
Substantial economic losses due to mortality were associated with wildfires, which could be influenced by the agriculture and services share of GDP per capita. Our estimates of the economic losses of mortality could be used to determine optimal levels of investment and resources to mitigate the adverse health impacts of wildfires.
•Higher greenspace levels around home and school were associated with slower decline in visual acuity among schoolchildren.•Exposure to greater greenspace was associated with a lower risk of visual ...impairment.•The part of protective association could be mediated by reducing air pollution and recreational screen time while increasing physical activity and outdoor time.
Greenspace is known to have a positive impact on human health and well-being, but its potential effects on visual acuity have not been extensively studied.
Our aim was to examine the relationship between long-term greenspace exposure and visual acuity in children, while also exploring the potential mechanisms in this association.
We conducted this prospective cohort study based on the Children’s growth environment, lifestyle, physical, and mental health development project (COHERENCE), which screened 286,801 schoolchildren in Guangzhou, China, starting in the 2016/17 academic year and followed them up for three academic years (2017/18-2019/20). Visual acuity was measured using a standardized logarithmic chart, and visual impairment was defined as visual acuity worse than 0.0 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (LogMAR) units in the better eye. We used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), and the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) to assess the greenspace surrounding child's geocoded home and school at each visit.
Our analysis indicated that higher greenspace exposure was associated with greater visual acuity z-score at baseline and with slower decline in visual acuity z-score during the 3-year follow-up. An interquartile range increase in home-school-based NDVI 300m was associated with a 7% decrease hazard ratios (HRs): 0.93, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.92, 0.94 in the risk of visual impairment. We also found that air pollution, physical activity, outdoor time, and recreational screen time partially mediated the greenspace-visual acuity association.
Our findings suggest that increasing greenspace exposure could benefit children’s visual acuity development and reduce the risk of visual impairment by reducing air pollution and recreational screen time while increasing physical activity and outdoor time. All results could have potential policy implications, given the individual and societal burdens associated with visual impairment.
•Evidence on residential greenness and fetal growth in utero is scarce in China.•Residential greenness were beneficially associated with fetal growth in utero.•The associations were stronger in women ...exposed to lower levels of PM2.5.
Although studies have examined the association between residential greenness and birth weight, there is no evidence regarding the association between residential greenness and fetal growth in utero. We aimed to investigate the associations of residential greenness with both fetal growth in utero and birth weight.
A birth cohort (2014–2017) with 18,665 singleton pregnancies was established in Tongzhou Maternal and Child hospital of Beijing, China. Residential greenness was matched with maternal residential address and estimated from remote satellite data using normalized difference vegetation index with 200 m and 500 m buffers (NDVI-200 and NDVI-500). Fetal parameters including estimated fetal weight (EFW), abdominal circumference (AC), head circumference (HC) and femur length (FL) were assessed by ultrasound measurements during pregnancy. Fetal parameters were standardized as gestational-age- and gender-adjusted Z-score and undergrowth was defined as Z-score < −1.88. Birth weight Z-score, low birth weight (LBW) and small for gestational age (SGA) were assessed as birth outcomes. Generalized estimating equations with the autoregressive working correlation structure and generalized linear regression were used to examine the associations of residential greenness with quantitative and categorized outcomes.
We found an increase Z-score of EFW 0.054, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.020–0.087, AC (0.045, 95%CI: 0.011–0.080) and HC (0.054, 95%CI: 0.020–0.089) associated with residential greenness above NDVI-500 median compared to less than and equal to NDVI-500 median. Stratified analyses indicated that the associations might be stronger in women exposed to lower levels of particles with aerodynamic diameters ≤2.5 µm. No associations were found in the analyses of NDVI-250 with fetal growth in utero. We didn’t observe significant associations of NDVI with birth weight Z-score, LBW and SGA.
This study identified a positive association of NDVI-500 and fetal growth in utero, but we didn’t observe its association with birth weight measures. Our results suggest that building sufficient green infrastructure might potentially promote early life health.
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