Abstract
Precise exposure assessment of air pollutants is crucial in epidemiologic studies to ensure valid estimates of health effects. We conducted a longitudinal study to evaluate the role of air quality monitoring (AQM) measurements and high-resolution modeling outcomes focusing on nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure and atopic dermatitis (AD). A total of 128 young children with AD in Seoul Metropolitan Area, Korea, were recruited as a panel. We estimated the participants’ exposure to NO2 for four months, from 1 April through 31 July 2014 based on (1) monitored levels from 60 AQM stations located at varying distances from residential areas (AQM station-based NO2, AQM-NO2) and (2) estimates from a community multi-scale air quality (CMAQ) modeling system with a high-resolution (1 × 1 km) (CMAQ-NO2). We then compared the effect of AQM-NO2 on AD symptoms with that of CMAQ-NO2. The average distance between the participants’ residences and the nearest AQM station was 2.03 ± 1.06 km, ranging from 0.28 km to 5.73 km. Based on AQM-NO2, the AD symptoms increased by 10.28% (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.24, 17.79) with an increase of 10 ppb of NO2. The effect estimates of CMAQ-NO2 were similar to those of AQM-NO2 when assessed in patients living within 3 km from the nearest AQM station. Even within 1 km, the CI estimate obtained from the CMAQ was much narrower than from AQM (44.18–49.54 vs. 7.02–64.75). However, the association of AQM-NO2 with AD symptoms of patients living beyond 3 km was not positive, whereas that of CMAQ-NO2 maintained positive. In conclusion, exposure to ambient NO2 is significantly associated with aggravation of AD symptoms in young children. In addition, our study suggests that exposure assessment of NO2 using measurement data obtained from monitoring stations far from residential locations can lead to misclassification bias.
Highlights
Exposure assessment is an important component of epidemiologic studies investigating the impact of air pollution on human health
We evaluated the effects of NO2 on atopic dermatitis (AD) symptoms and compared the effects of subgroups stratified by distance from the residential location to the monitoring stations
In our longitudinal study using air quality monitoring (AQM) measurements and high-resolution community multi-scale air quality (CMAQ) predictions, we found that AQM data with low spatial resolution obtained from stations distant from residential areas resulted in misclassification of exposure and misunderstanding of the health effect
Summary
Exposure assessment is an important component of epidemiologic studies investigating the impact of air pollution on human health. Atmosphere 2020, 11, 921 monitoring (AQM) stations to characterize exposure to ambient air pollutants at a population level [1]. Such monitoring stations offer limited spatial resolution and may only be useful when estimating exposure close to the AQM stations [2]. Air quality modeling with high spatial and temporal resolution can be used to improve exposure assessment, especially for study populations that are located far from the AQM stations [4] Monitoring data obtained from stations located at a large distance from residential places may lead to misclassification bias [4,5].
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