The modification effect of fasting blood glucose level on the associations between short-term ambient air pollution and blood lipids

ABSTRACT

The association between short-term ambient air pollution (AAP) exposure and blood lipids is inconsistent across populations. This study aimed to investigate the modifying effects of fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels on the associations between short-term AAP exposure  and blood lipids in 110,637 male participants from Beijing, China. The results showed that FBG modified the association between short-term AAP exposure and blood lipids, especially low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). In the hyperglycemia group, a 10-μg/m³ increase in particles with diameters ≤ 2.5 μm (PM_2.5), particles with diameters ≤ 10 μm (PM₁₀), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), or a 1-mg/m³ increase in carbon monoxide (CO) was associated with a 0.454%, 0.305%, 1.507%, 0.872%, or 3.961% increase in LDL-C, respectively. In the nonhyperglycemic group, short-term increases in air pollutants were even associated with small decreases in LDL-C. The findings demonstrate that lipids in hyperglycemic individuals are more vulnerable to short-term AAP exposure than those in normal populations.

KEYWORDS:

• Air pollution
• particulate matter
• blood lipid
• low-density lipoprotein cholesterol
• hyperglycemic

Author contributions

Yi Zhang: Conceptualization, Visualization, Writing-original draft. Pai Zheng: Conceptualization, Investigation. Jiaqi Shi: Conceptualization, Investigation. Ying Ma: Conceptualization, Visualization. Zhangjian Chen: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing. Tiancheng Wang: Data curation, Writing-review & editing, Funding acquisition. Guang Jia: Data curation, Project administration.

Availability of data and materials

The data underlying this article were provided by the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital by permission. Data will be shared on request to the corresponding author with permission of the Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital.

Consent to publish

All authors have read the manuscript and approved the version to be published. All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Consent to participate

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to enrollment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

Ethical approval for this study was granted by the Ethical Committee of the Peking University Health Science Center. The principle of the Helsinki Declaration for using human subjects was followed.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09603123.2023.2283048.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by [National Natural Science Foundation of China] (Grant numbers [91743114] and [81673118]).