Short-term effect of air pollution on childhood epilepsy in eastern China : A space-time-stratified case-crossover and pooled analysis

Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved..

BACKGROUND: Growing studies suggest that air pollution exposure is an emerging driver for neurological diseases, but existing evidence on the association between air pollution and epilepsy is scarce. Here, we aimed to quantitatively estimated the short-term effects of various air pollutants on childhood epilepsy hospitalizations in China.

METHODS: We obtained daily electronic health records on childhood epilepsy hospitalizations and air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10-2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, O3) from 2016 through 2018 in 10 cities of Anhui Province in China. In the first stage, a space-time-stratified case-crossover analysis was employed to evaluate the short-term association of childhood epilepsy hospitalizations with each air pollutant in Anhui Province. In the second stage, short-term effect of air pollution on childhood epilepsy morbidity reported in Anhui Province and in previous studies was pooled with a random-effect meta-analysis model to get the overall effect of different air pollutants in eastern China.

RESULTS: This study included 8,181 childhood epilepsy patients from 10 cities in Anhui province of China. The first stage case-crossover analysis in Anhui province found significant associations between higher concentrations of all air pollutants (except O3) and increased risk of childhood epilepsy hospitalizations. Each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, PM10-2.5, PM10, SO2, and NO2 concentrations was associated with an increase of 1.1 % [95 % confidence interval (CI): 0.1 %-2.1 %], 1.7 % (95 %CI: 0.5 %-2.9 %), 0.8 % (95 %CI: 0.1 %-1.4 %), 8.5 % (95 %CI: 1.5 %-16.0 %), and 4.3 % (95 %CI: 2.3 %-6.3 %) in epilepsy hospitalizations, respectively. We also observed greater effects of particulate matter in cold season. The second stage meta-analysis that additionally included two prior studies with 43,002 patients from other 11 cities found a marginally significant increase in childhood epilepsy attacks associated with PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 in eastern China.

CONCLUSIONS: Short-term exposure to both particulate matter and gaseous air pollution was associated with an increased risk of childhood epilepsy exacerbation in eastern China. Our findings suggest that air pollution exposure especially in cold season needs to be considered by children's parents or guardians to prevent epilepsy attacks.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:170

Enthalten in:

Environment international - 170(2022) vom: 01. Dez., Seite 107591

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Cheng, Jian [VerfasserIn]
Su, Hong [VerfasserIn]
Song, Jian [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Xu [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Air Pollutants
Air pollution
Child
China
Epilepsy
Gaseous pollutant
Journal Article
Meta-Analysis
Particulate matter

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 15.12.2022

Date Revised 21.12.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.envint.2022.107591

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM347943136