Joint Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone on Asthmatic Symptoms: Prospective Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: The associations of long-term exposure to air pollutants in the presence of asthmatic symptoms remain inconclusive and the joint effects of air pollutants as a mixture are unclear. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the individual and joint associations of long-term exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and daily 8-hour maximum ozone concentrations (MDA8 O(3)) in the presence of asthmatic symptoms in Chinese adults. METHODS: Data were derived from the World Health Organization Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (WHO SAGE) cohort study among adults aged 50 years or older, which was implemented in 1 municipality and 7 provinces across China during 2007-2018. Annual average MDA8 O(3) and PM(2.5) at individual residential addresses were estimated by an iterative random forest model and a satellite-based spatiotemporal model, respectively. Participants who were diagnosed with asthma by a doctor or taking asthma-related therapies or experiencing related conditions within the past 12 months were recorded as having asthmatic symptoms. The individual associations of PM(2.5) and MDA8 O(3) with asthmatic symptoms were estimated by a Cox proportional hazards regression model, and the joint association was estimated by a quantile g-computation model. A series of subgroup analyses was applied to examine the potential modifications of some characteristics. We also calculated the population-attributable fraction (PAF) of asthmatic symptoms attributed to PM(2.5) and MDA8 O(3). RESULTS: A total of 8490 adults older than 50 years were included, and the average follow-up duration was 6.9 years. During the follow-up periods, 586 (6.9%) participants reported asthmatic symptoms. Individual effect analyses showed that the risk of asthmatic symptoms was positively associated with MDA8 O(3) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.12, 95% CI 1.01-1.24, for per quantile) and PM(2.5) (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05-1.31, for per quantile). Joint effect analyses showed that per equal quantile increment of MDA8 O(3) and PM(2.5) was associated with an 18% (HR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05-1.33) increase in the risk of asthmatic symptoms, and PM(2.5) contributed more (68%) in the joint effects. The individual PAFs of asthmatic symptoms attributable to PM(2.5) and MDA8 O(3) were 2.86% (95% CI 0.17%-5.50%) and 4.83% (95% CI 1.42%-7.25%), respectively, while the joint PAF of asthmatic symptoms attributable to exposure mixture was 4.32% (95% CI 1.10%-7.46%). The joint associations were greater in participants with obesity, in urban areas, with lower family income, and who used unclean household cooking fuel. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to PM(2.5) and MDA8 O(3) may individually and jointly increase the risk of asthmatic symptoms, and the joint effects were smaller than the sum of individual effects. These findings informed the importance of joint associations of long-term exposure to air pollutants with asthma.