Abstract
Background In recent five years, air quality in China has been gradually improved; however, the prevalence of asthma in China has still increased significantly. This study aims to examine whether air pollution exposure is a significant contributor to childhood asthma and to explore the mechanisms using exposure and response biomarkers. Methods The generalized additive model was applied to evaluate the effects of air pollutants on asthma hospitalization. Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHPyr) was determined as PAHs exposure biomarker. Metabolic profiles and microbial diversity were screened and selected as response biomarkers. Results Daily average concentrations of the six common air pollutants were not significantly associated with daily childhood asthma hospitalization. Urinary 1-OHPyr level showed large variability among asthmatic children and were positively correlated with the abundance of Prevotella (genus level) and purine metabolism. Conclusions The biomarker of PAHs exposure is associated with metabolic and microbiological biomarkers of childhood asthma. As the potential health risk, we suggest that PAHs should be included in the national monitoring system aiming to reduce the exposure.
Application of a Time-Stratified Case-Crossover Design to Explore the Effects of Air Pollution and Season on Childhood Asthma Hospitalization in Cities of Differing Urban Patterns: Big Data Analytics of Government Open Data
