Longitudinal Associations Between Ambient Air #Pollution with #Insulin Sensitivity, β-Cell Function, and Adiposity in Los Angeles Latino Children

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2017/01/27/db16-1416

Higher NO2 and PM2.5 were associated with a faster decline in SI and a lower insulin sensitivity (SI) at age 18 independent of adiposity. NO2 exposure negatively affected β-cell function evidenced by a faster decline in disposition index (DI) and a lower DI at age 18. Higher NO2 and PM2.5 exposures over follow-up were also associated with a higher BMI at age 18. AAP exposure may contribute to development of type 2 diabetes through direct effects on insulin sensitivity and β-cell function.

Association between air #pollution and mammographic #breast density in the Breast Cancer Surveilance Consortium
http://breast-cancer-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13058-017-0828-3

in regression analysis, women with heterogeneously dense vs. scattered fibroglandular breasts were more likely to have higher exposure to PM2.5 (fourth vs. first quartile odds ratio (OR) = 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.16 − 1.23). Women with extremely dense vs. scattered fibroglandular breasts were less likely to have higher levels of ozone exposure (fourth vs. first quartile OR = 0.80, 95% CI 0.73–0.87).

Conclusion

Exposure to PM2.5 and O3 may in part explain geographical variation in mammographic density. Further studies are warranted to determine the causal nature of these associations.

Particulate Matter Air #Pollution and the Risk of Incident CKD and Progression to #ESRD
http://m.jasn.asnjournals.org/content/early/2017/09/21/ASN.2017030253

Elevated levels of fine particulate matter <2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes and death, but their association with risk of CKD and ESRD is unknown

In analyses of baseline exposure (median, 11.8 interquartile range, 10.1–13.7 µg/m3), a 10-µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration was associated with increased risk of eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m2 (hazard ratio HR, 1.21; 95% confidence interval 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.29), CKD (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.38), eGFR decline ≥30% (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.39), and ESRD (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.35). In time-varying analyses, a 10-µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 concentration was associated with similarly increased risk of eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m2, CKD, eGFR decline ≥30%, and ESRD. Spline analyses showed a linear relationship between PM2.5 concentrations and risk of kidney outcomes. Exposure estimates derived from National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite data yielded consistent results.

Our findings demonstrate a significant association between exposure to PM2.5 and risk of incident CKD, eGFR decline, and ESRD

Air #pollution: a largely neglected risk factor for #osteoporosis
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(17)30143-2/fulltext

In The Lancet Planetary Health, Diddier Prada and colleagues1 have identified an important, but heretofore largely overlooked, risk factor for osteoporosis: air pollution. The investigators showed that long-term exposure to black carbon was associated with an excess of longitudinal bone loss. They also showed that people living in areas with higher PM2·5 concentrations had a greater risk of osteoporotic fracture. Air pollution is considered the most important risk factor for mortality at the population level;2 now we know that it is also a risk factor for osteoporosis

Association of Short-term Exposure to Air #Pollution With #Mortality in Older Adults
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2667069

.. The baseline daily mortality rates were 137.33 and 129.44 (per 1 million persons at risk per day) for the entire year and for the warm season, respectively. Each short-term increase of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5 (adjusted by ozone) and 10 parts per billion (10−9) in warm-season ozone (adjusted by PM2.5) were statistically significantly associated with a relative increase of 1.05% (95% CI, 0.95%-1.15%) and 0.51% (95% CI, 0.41%-0.61%) in daily mortality rate, respectively. Absolute risk differences in daily mortality rate were 1.42 (95% CI, 1.29-1.56) and 0.66 (95% CI, 0.53-0.78) per 1 million persons at risk per day. There was no evidence of a threshold in the exposure-response relationship.

Conclusions and Relevance In the US Medicare population from 2000 to 2012, short-term exposures to PM2.5 and warm-season ozone were significantly associated with increased risk of mortality. This risk occurred at levels below current national air quality standards, suggesting that these standards may need to be reevaluated

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The 2016 global and national burden of #diabetes mellitus attributable to PM2·5 air #pollution

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpla/article/PIIS2542-5196(18)30140-2/fulltext

..In adjusted models, a 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2·5 was associated with increased risk of diabetes (HR 1·15, 95% CI 1·08–1·22). PM2·5 was associated with increased risk of death as the positive outcome control (HR 1·08, 95% CI 1·03–1·13), but not with lower limb fracture as the negative outcome control (1·00, 0·91–1·09). An IQR increase (0·045 μg/m3) in ambient air sodium concentration as the negative exposure control exhibited no significant association with the risk of diabetes (HR 1·00, 95% CI 0·99–1·00). An integrated exposure response function showed that the risk of diabetes increased substantially above 2·4 μg/m3, and then exhibited a more moderate increase at concentrations above 10 μg/m3. Globally, ambient PM2·5 contributed to about 3·2 million (95% uncertainty interval UI 2·2–3·8) incident cases of diabetes, about 8·2 million (95% UI 5·8–11·0) DALYs caused by diabetes, and 206 105 (95% UI 153 408–259 119) deaths from diabetes attributable to PM2·5 exposure. The burden varied substantially among geographies and was more heavily skewed towards low-income and lower-to-middle-income countries.

Interpretation
The global toll of diabetes attributable to PM2·5 air pollution is significant. Reduction in exposure will yield substantial health benefits.

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The impact of exposure to air #pollution on #cognitive performance

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/08/21/1809474115

This paper examines the effect of both cumulative and transitory exposures to air pollution for the same individuals over time on cognitive performance by matching a nationally representative longitudinal survey and air quality data in China according to the exact time and geographic locations of the cognitive tests. We find that long-term exposure to air pollution impedes cognitive performance in verbal and math tests. We provide evidence that the effect of air pollution on verbal tests becomes more pronounced as people age, especially for men and the less educated. The damage on the aging brain by air pollution likely imposes substantial health and economic costs, considering that cognitive functioning is critical for the elderly for both running daily errands and making high-stake decisions

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Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Ozone and Progression of Subclinical #Arterial Disease: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air #Pollution

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP3325

Long-term ozone (O3) exposure is associated with cardiovascular mortality, but little is known about the associations between O3 and subclinical arterial disease..

Mean progression rates of IMTCCA and CAC were 12±0.5μm and 25±1.4  Agatston units per year. CP formation was identified in 55% of the subjects. A 3-ppb increase in long-term average O3 exposure was associated with a 5.6-μm 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.4, 9.7 greater increase in IMTCCA over 10 y. A 3-ppb increase in O3 was also associated with new CP formation odds ratio (OR): 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1, 1.4) but not CAC progression −8 Agatston units (95% CI: −18, 2). Associations were robust in the analysis with extended covariate adjustment, including copollutants, i.e., nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter with diameter <2.5μm (PM2.5).

Conclusion:
Over almost a decade of follow-up, outdoor O3 concentrations were associated with increased rate of carotid wall thickness progression and risk of new plaque formation, suggesting arterial injury in this cohort

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Ambient Particulate Air #Pollution and Daily #Mortality in 652 Cities

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1817364

On average, an increase of 10 μg per cubic meter in the 2-day moving average of PM10 concentration, which represents the average over the current and previous day, was associated with increases of 0.44% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39 to 0.50) in daily all-cause mortality, 0.36% (95% CI, 0.30 to 0.43) in daily cardiovascular mortality, and 0.47% (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.58) in daily respiratory mortality. The corresponding increases in daily mortality for the same change in PM2.5 concentration were 0.68% (95% CI, 0.59 to 0.77), 0.55% (95% CI, 0.45 to 0.66), and 0.74% (95% CI, 0.53 to 0.95). These associations remained significant after adjustment for gaseous pollutants. Associations were stronger in locations with lower annual mean PM concentrations and higher annual mean temperatures. The pooled concentration–response curves showed a consistent increase in daily mortality with increasing PM concentration, with steeper slopes at lower PM concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data show independent associations between short-term exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 and daily all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in more than 600 cities across the globe. These data reinforce the evidence of a link between mortality and PM concentration established in regional and local studies

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Environmental #pollution is associated with increased risk of #psychiatric disorders in the US and Denmark

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000353

The search for the genetic factors underlying complex neuropsychiatric disorders has proceeded apace in the past decade. Despite some advances in identifying genetic variants associated with psychiatric disorders, most variants have small individual contributions to risk. By contrast, disease risk increase appears to be less subtle for disease-predisposing environmental insults

..Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) county-level environmental quality indices (EQIs) in the US and individual-level exposure to air pollution in Denmark were used to assess the association between pollution exposure and the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. These results show that air pollution is significantly associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorders. We hypothesize that pollutants affect the human brain via neuroinflammatory pathways that have also been shown to cause depression-like phenotypes in animal studies.

Association of Ambient and Household Air #Pollution With #Bone Mineral Content Among Adults in Peri-urban South India

..The annual mean (SD) PM2.5 exposure was 32.8 (2.5) μg/m3, and the annual mean (SD) BC exposure was 2.5 (0.2) μg/m3; 57.8% of participants used biomass cooking fuels. In fully adjusted models, PM2.5 was associated with lower BMC in the spine (mean difference, −0.57 g per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5; 95% CI, −1.06 to −0.07 g per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and hip (mean difference, −0.13 g per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5; 95% CI, −0.3 to 0.03 g per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5). After confounder adjustment, exposure to PM2.5 was also associated with lower bone mineral density in the spine (mean difference, −0.011 g/cm2 per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5; 95% CI, −0.021 to 0 g/cm2 per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5) and hip (mean difference, −0.004 g/cm2 per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5; 95% CI, −0.008 to 0.001 g/cm2 per 3 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5). Exposure to BC was associated with lower BMC in the spine (mean difference, −1.13 g per 1 μg/m3 increase in BC; 95% CI, −2.81 to 0.54 g per 1 μg/m3 increase in BC) and hip (mean difference, −0.35 g per 1 μg/m3 increase in BC; 95% CI, −0.96 to 0.25 g per 1 μg/m3 increase in BC), although the confidence intervals were wider. There was no association between biomass fuel use and spine BMC (mean difference, 0.12 g; 95% CI, −0.45 to 0.68 g).

Conclusions and Relevance  In a cross-sectional analysis of a population-based cohort, ambient air pollution was associated with lower BMC in a young adult population in a peri-urban area of South India

https://bit.ly/2QSgw5H

Loss of life expectancy from air #pollution compared to other risk factors: a worldwide perspective
https://2medical.news/2020/04/05/loss-of-life-expectancy-from-air-pollution-compared-to-other-risk-factors-a-worldwide-perspective/

..We used a data-informed atmospheric model to calculate worldwide exposure to PM2.5 and ozone pollution, which was combined with the GEMM to estimate disease-specific excess mortality and loss of life expectancy (LLE) in 2015. Using this model, we investigated the effects of different pollution sources, distinguishing between natural (wildfires, aeolian dust) and anthropogenic emissions, including fossil fuel use. Global excess mortality from all ambient air …

Can atmospheric #pollution be considered a co-factor in extremely high level of SARS-#CoV-2 lethality in Northern Italy?
https://2medical.news/2020/04/22/can-atmospheric-pollution-be-considered-a-co-factor-in-extremely-high-level-of-sars-cov-2-lethality-in-northern-italy/

This paper investigates the correlation between the high level of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) lethality and the atmospheric pollution in Northern Italy. Indeed, Lombardy and Emilia Romagna are Italian regions with both the highest level of virus lethality in the world and one of Europe’s most polluted area. Based on this correlation, this paper analyzes the possible link between pollution and the …

Fine Particulate Matter Air #Pollution and Mortality among Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Patients
https://2medical.news/2020/05/21/fine-particulate-matter-air-pollution-and-mortality-among-pediatric-adolescent-and-young-adult-cancer-patients/

Air pollution is a carcinogen and causes pulmonary and cardiac complications. We examined the association of fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) and mortality from cancer and all causes among pediatric, adolescent, and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer in Utah, a state with considerable variation in PM2.5.. ..Increases in PM2.5 per 5 μg/m3 were associated with cancer mortality in pediatric lymphomas and central nervous system …

Air #pollution as a determinant of food delivery and related #plastic waste
https://2medical.news/2020/10/30/air-pollution-as-a-determinant-of-food-delivery-and-related-plastic-waste/

Plastic waste is a growing environmental concern. The food delivery industry is criticized for its environmental impact, especially its current use of plastic packaging. At the same time, the environment impacts the industry. We show that air pollution is a behavioural driver of food delivery consumption in the urban developing world. Our hypothesis is that individuals are more likely to order delivery when their personal …

Human #Health and Ocean #Pollution
https://2medical.news/2020/12/14/human-health-and-ocean-pollution/

..Human Health Findings: Methylmercury and PCBs are the ocean pollutants whose human health effects are best understood. Exposures of infants in utero to these pollutants through maternal consumption of contaminated seafood can damage developing brains, reduce IQ and increase children’s risks for autism, ADHD and learning disorders. Adult exposures to methylmercury increase risks for cardiovascular disease and dementia. Manufactured chemicals – phthalates, bisphenol A, flame …

The Effects of Chronic Exposure to Ambient #Traffic-Related Air #Pollution on #Alzheimer’s Disease Phenotypes in Wildtype and Genetically Predisposed Male and Female Rats

https://2medical.news/2021/05/26/the-effects-of-chronic-exposure-to-ambient-traffic-related-air-pollution-on-alzheimers-disease-phenotypes-in-wildtype-and-genetically-predisposed-male-and-female-rats/