ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Environmental Health and Exposome
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1549830
This article is part of the Research TopicClimate Change, Air Pollution, and Health Inequality: Vulnerability of Marginalized PopulationsView all 10 articles
Long-Term PM2.5 Exposure and New-Onset Lung Diseases Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: a retrospective cohort study from CHARLS
Provisionally accepted
- Xi'an No.3 Hospital, Xi'an, China
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Background Air pollution caused by ambient fine particulate matter (≤ 2.5 µm) adversely affects 14 human health. Previous studies have shown that PM2.5 exposure increases the risk of lung diseases. 15 However, the relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and new-onset lung diseases among 16 middle-aged and older adults in China is still unclear. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort 17 study through the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and Science Data 18 Bank (ScienceDB). The logistic regression model and restricted cubic spline (RCS) were used to 19 explore the relationship between long-term PM2.5 exposure and new-onset lung diseases. To further 20 increase the robustness of the results, we performed sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Results A 21 total of 10,707 patients were included in this study. The 10,707 patients were divided into two 22 groups: without new-onset lung diseases (n = 9,019) and with new-onset lung diseases (n = 1,688). 23 The results of multivariate analysis showed that per 1 ug/m3 increase in annual PM2.5 concentration, 24 the risk of new lung diseases increased by 0.3%. The results of the RCS showed that PM2.5 exposure 25 increased the risk of new-onset lung diseases more significantly when the annual PM2.5 26 concentration was greater than 48.5 ug/m3. Sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis also confirmed 27 the reliability of the results. Conclusion PM2.5 exposure increases the risk of new-onset lung 28 diseases among middle-aged and old adults in China, especially when the concentration of PM2.5 > 29 48.5 ug/m3. Our study established an empirical foundation for refining PM2.5 emission regulations, developing age-stratified screening protocols for incident pulmonary diseases, and advancing mechanistic investigations into PM2.5-induced lung pathology.
Keywords: Long-term, PM2.5 exposure, New-onset lung diseases, Middle-aged and older adults, China
Received: 22 Dec 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Zhang, Yu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingjing Li, Xi'an No.3 Hospital, Xi'an, China
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