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The association between early pregnancy exposure to green space and maternal glucolipid metabolism disorders: evaluation of the mediating role of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D

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Abstract

Green space and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) can affect maternal and infant health, but limited studies have examined their effects on disorders of maternal glucolipid metabolism. We aimed to explore the interaction between green space, maternal serum 25(OH)D, and disorders of glucolipid metabolism in early pregnancy. A total of 2551 pregnant women were recruited from the Maanshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital birth cohort in China between 2020 and 2022. We calculated average residential greenness during early pregnancy using 250 m normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from satellites. Serum biomarkers (25(OH)D, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol(HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), apolipoprotein A1(ApoA1), and apolipoprotein B(ApoB)) were measured. Associations between the factors were analyzed using multiple linear regression, mediation analysis, and stratified analysis. After adjusting for potential confounders, green space exposure associated with decreased TG (− 7.8%; 95% confidence interval (CI): − 12.8, − 2.9), TC (− 7.0%; 95% CI: − 11.4, − 2.7), and LDL-C (− 8.4%; 95% CI: − 12.9, − 3.9), ApoB (− 2.0%; 95% CI: − 3.0, − 1.0) and increased HDL-C (2.7%; 95% CI: 1.5, 3.8) and ApoA1 (5.1%; 95% CI: 3.9, 6.3) for each IQR increase in NDVI. A comparable link was found between maternal serum 25(OH)D and indicators of glucolipid metabolism (P < 0.05). In addition, mediation analysis showed that the association between green space exposure and maternal glucolipid metabolic index was mediated by serum 25(OH)D at 6.37%. In stratified analyses, a considerable association between 25(OH)D and glucolipid metabolic index (except TG) was observed only at higher green space exposures. This study confirms that high levels of green space exposure in early pregnancy and vitamin D are associated with a reduced risk of glucolipid metabolism disorders and suggests that green space may favor glucolipid metabolism by increasing vitamin D levels, particularly at high NDVI values.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge all the participants and administrators in this study.

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82073565), Scientific Research Promotion Plan of Anhui Medical University (2021xkjT013), Projects of Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health and Aristogenics (JKYS20225), and Projects of Natural Science Research of Anhui Provincial Department of Education (KJ2020A0163).

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Author notes

  1. Wenjie Yu, Yingqing Li, and Kangdi Zhang contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China

    Wenjie Yu, Yingqing Li, Kangdi Zhang, Xinqiang Wang, Jie Wang, Xin Cheng, Zhenhua Li, Yicheng Mao, Jiawen Zhao, Chengyang Hu & Xiujun Zhang

  2. Department of Clinical Laboratory, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China

    Tao Li

  3. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Ma’anshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Maanshan, 243000, China

    Maolin Chen

  4. Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory of Population Health & Aristogenics, Hefei, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Maolin Chen

  5. Department of Child Health Care, Maanshan Maternal and Child Health Hospital, Maanshan, 243000, China

    Guopeng Gao

  6. Lishui Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Lishui, 323000, China

    Kun Di

  7. Department of Humanistic Medicine, School of Humanistic Medicine, Anhui Medical University, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China

    Chengyang Hu

  8. Key Laboratory of Population Health Across Life Cycle (Anhui Medical University), Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 81 Meishan Road, Hefei, 230032, China

    Xiujun Zhang

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  1. Wenjie Yu
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Study design and experimental work were done by Wenjie Yu, Yingqing Li, Kangdi Zhang, Maolin Chen, Chengyang Hu, Xiujun Zhang, and Xinqiang Wang. Material preparation was performed by Jie Wang, Zhenhua Li, Yicheng Mao, Kun Di, and Xin Cheng. Chemical analysis and data management were conducted by Jiawen Zhao, Guopeng Gao, and Tao Li. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Wenjie Yu, Yingqing Li, and Kangdi Zhang. All authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript and approved the final version before submission.

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Correspondence to Xiujun Zhang.

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All pregnant women signed an informed consent form, and the study passed the review of the Ethics Committee of Anhui Medical University (No. 20200529).

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Yu, W., Li, Y., Zhang, K. et al. The association between early pregnancy exposure to green space and maternal glucolipid metabolism disorders: evaluation of the mediating role of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 40978–40986 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-25073-3

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