Effects of air pollutant exposure on lung function in exercisers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to systematically evaluate the effect of air pollutant exposure on lung function in exercisers. Computer search Web of Science, PubMed, EBSCO and Cochrane Library, MINORS scale for literature quality evaluation, and Stata 12.0 software for statistical analysis. According to the literature inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 14 pieces of literature were screened and included in the Meta-analysis, and the literature quality was relatively high. Meta-analysis shows that air pollutant exposure has no significant effect on FVC, FEV1 and PEF of exercisers (p>0.05); but it can significantly increase the FeNO level of exercisers [Z=2.26, p = 0.024, SMD=-0.228, 95% CI= (-0.426, -0.031)]. Egger linear regression analysis shows that FVC [β=-4.64, p = 0.004, 95% CI= (-7.32,-1.95)] has the possibility of publication bias; FEV1, PEF and FeNO p>0.05 and 95% CI contains 0, there is no publication bias in the included literature. There is no sensitivity problem in the included literature, and the combined result is robust and reliable. Exposure to air pollutants may cause allergic airway inflammation by increasing FeNO levels in exercised populations, and adversely affecting human health.