Association between air pollutants and initiation of biological therapy in patients with ankylosing spondylitis: a nationwide, population-based, nested case–control study

BACKGROUND: Outdoor air pollution has been found to trigger systemic inflammatory responses and aggravate the activity of certain rheumatic diseases. However, few studies have explored the influence of air pollution on the activity of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). As patients with active AS in Taiwan can be reimbursed through the National Health Insurance programme for biological therapy, we investigated the association between air pollutants and the initiation of reimbursed biologics for active AS. METHODS: Since 2011, hourly concentrations of ambient air pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, SO2, and O3, have been estimated in Taiwan. Using Taiwanese National Health Insurance Research Database, we identified patients with newly diagnosed AS from 2003 to 2013. We selected 584 patients initiating biologics from 2012 to 2013 and 2336 gender-, age at biologic initiation-, year of AS diagnosis- and disease duration-matched controls. We examined the associations of biologics initiation with air pollutants exposure within 1 year prior to biologic use whilst adjusting for potential confounders, including disease duration, urbanisation level, monthly income, Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), uveitis, psoriasis and the use of medications for AS. Results are shown as adjusted odds ratio (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). RESULTS: The initiation of biologics was associated with exposure to CO (per 1 ppm) (aOR, 8.57; 95% CI, 2.02–36.32) and NO2 (per 10 ppb) (aOR, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.11–0.50). Other independent predictors included disease duration (incremental year, aOR, 8.95), CCI (aOR, 1.31), psoriasis (aOR, 25.19), use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (aOR, 23.66), methotrexate use (aOR, 4.50; 95% CI, 2.93–7.00), sulfasalazine use (aOR, 12.16; 95% CI, 8.98–15.45) and prednisolone equivalent dosages (mg/day, aOR, 1.12). CONCLUSIONS: This nationwide, population-based study revealed the initiation of reimbursed biologics was positively associated with CO levels, but negatively associated with NO(2) levels. Major limitations included lack of information on individual smoking status and multicollinearity amongst air pollutants. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13075-023-03060-4.