Abstract
Abstract. Beijing, as a representative megacity in China, is experiencing some of the most severe air pollution episodes in the world, and its fast urbanization has led to substantial urban and peri-urban disparities in both health status and air quality. Uncertainties remain regarding the possible causal links between individual air pollutants and health outcomes, with spatial comparative investigations of these links lacking, particularly in developing megacities. In light of this challenge, Effects of AIR pollution on cardiopuLmonary disEaSe in urban and peri-urban reSidents in Beijing (AIRLESS) was initiated, with the aim of addressing the complex issue of relating multi-pollutant exposure to cardiopulmonary outcomes. This paper presents the novel methodological framework employed in the project, namely (1) the deployment of two panel studies from established cohorts in urban and peri-urban Beijing, with different exposure settings regarding pollution levels and diverse sources; (2) the collection of detailed measurements and biomarkers of participants from a nested case (hypertensive) and control (healthy) study setting; (3) the assessment of indoor and personal exposure to multiple gaseous pollutants and particulate matter at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution with validated novel sensor technologies; (4) the assessment of ambient air pollution levels in a large-scale field campaign, particularly the chemical composition of particulate matter. Preliminary results showed that there is a large difference between ambient and personal air pollution levels, and the differences varied between seasons and locations. These large differences were reflected on the different health responses between the two panels.
Highlights
Air pollution has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for human health, especially for cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality
The rapid urbanization process, especially in some Chinese megacities, such as Beijing, has resulted in substantial urban and peri-urban disparities. This is reflected in health status due to differences in social economics and health services (Li et al, 2016), and in the spatial contrast in air pollution in the greater Beijing area (Zhao et al, 2009; Wu et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2011). These contrasts in air pollution are partly driven by the variation in energy use and provide a unique opportunity to investigate their health impacts on local residents
Based on a sample size of 240 participants, we examine the minimum detectable effect of PM2.5 on the four key health outcomes, namely systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), FENO, and white blood cells (WBCs), given the means and standard deviations (SDs) from previous studies (Dubowsky et al, 2006; Han et al, 2016; Jiang et al, 2014)
Summary
Air pollution has been widely recognized as a major risk factor for human health, especially for cardiopulmonary morbidity and mortality. The disease burden estimates in China are based almost entirely on epidemiological studies undertaken in Europe and North America, where concentrations and mixtures of air pollution in urban settings are likely to differ considerably between western and Chinese cities It is unclear if health risks relating to poor air quality can be transcribed from one setting to the other (Burnett et al, 2014). This is reflected in health status due to differences in social economics and health services (Li et al, 2016), and in the spatial contrast in air pollution in the greater Beijing area (Zhao et al, 2009; Wu et al, 2018; Xu et al, 2011) These contrasts in air pollution are partly driven by the variation in energy use (e.g. in winter, urban areas are dominated by centralized gas heating systems, while traditional biomass and coal stoves remain the key emission source for heating and cooking in peri-urban areas) and provide a unique opportunity to investigate their health impacts on local residents. Home visits took place only on the day of clinical visits so that the disturbance to participants’ normal lives could be minimized
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