Systemic Inflammation (C-Reactive Protein) in Older Chinese Adults Is Associated with Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution

Mona Elbarbary, Artem Oganesyan, Trenton Honda, Geoffrey Morgan, Yuming Guo, Yanfei Guo and Joel Negin
Additional contact information
Mona Elbarbary: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Artem Oganesyan: Department of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine, National Institute of Health, Yerevan 0051, Armenia
Trenton Honda: Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Geoffrey Morgan: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Yuming Guo: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
Yanfei Guo: Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai 200336, China
Joel Negin: Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-15

Abstract: There is an established association between air pollution and cardiovascular disease (CVD), which is likely to be mediated by systemic inflammation. The present study evaluated links between long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and high-sensitivity C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in an older Chinese adult cohort ( n = 7915) enrolled in the World Health Organization (WHO) study on global aging and adult health (SAGE) China Wave 1 in 2008–2010. Multilevel linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) on log-transformed hs-CRP levels and odds ratios of CVD risk derived from CRP levels adjusted for confounders. A satellite-based spatial statistical model was applied to estimate the average community exposure to outdoor air pollutants (PM with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 ?m or less (PM 10 ), 2.5 ?m or less (PM 2.5 ), and 1 ?m or less (PM 1 ) and NO 2 ) for each participant of the study. hs-CRP levels were drawn from dried blood spots of each participant. Each 10 ?g/m 3 increment in PM 10 , PM 2.5 , PM 1 , and NO 2 was associated with 12.8% (95% confidence interval; (CI): 9.1, 16.6), 15.7% (95% CI: 10.9, 20.8), 10.2% (95% CI: 7.3, 13.2), and 11.8% (95% CI: 7.9, 15.8) higher serum levels of hs-CRP, respectively. Our findings suggest that air pollution may be an important factor in increasing systemic inflammation in older Chinese adults.

Keywords: air pollution; C-reactive protein; inflammatory marker; CVD risk; China; elderly (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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