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Elder people can be more susceptible to the association between short-term ambient air pollution and sleep disorder outpatient visits: a time-series study

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Abstract

Sleep disorders attract increasing concerns. However, the evidence of the association between ambient air pollution and sleep disorders is limited. Therefore, our aim was to determine the association between short-term air pollution exposure and outpatient visits for sleep disorders in Xi’an, the largest city in Northwest China. Baseline outpatient data of daily sleep disorders between 2011 and 2013 were collected. Quasi-Poisson distribution was applied by adjusting the day of the week and weather conditions. A total of 49,282 sleep disorder outpatient visits were recorded. The most significant association between air pollutants and outpatient visits was observed on concurrent day: per 10 μg/m3 increase of NO2, SO2, and PM10 at lag 0 corresponded to increased outpatient sleep disorder visits at 0.22% (95% CI: 0.03%, 0.42%), 1.53% (95% CI: 0.53, 2.53%), and 2.57% (95% CI: 1.33%, 3.82%), respectively. As for gender-specific analysis, there was no statistically significant difference between males and females. The result of season-specific analysis showed no statistically significant difference between warm seasons and cool seasons, either. As for age-specific analysis, obvious associations were observed in 20–40 age group (NO2) and > 40 age group (PM10 and SO2), while no evident association was found for the young age group (< 20 years old). Conclusively, short-term exposure to air pollutants, especially gaseous air pollutants, might increase the risk of sleep disorders, and such association appears to be more obvious in elder people. We provide novel data that there may be age differences in the relationship between short-term air pollution exposure and sleep disorders.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

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Funding

The study was supported by (Research and Innovation Projects of Graduate Students in Chongqing) under Grant (No.CYS21524), and (Outstanding Talent Support Program of Army Medical University) without grant number.

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Author notes

  1. Yu-Meng Zhou, Shu-Jie An and Yi Cao contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, College of Preventive Medicine, Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University), 30 Gaotanyan Main Street, Shapingba, Chongqing, 400038, China

    Yu-Meng Zhou, Chen Xu, Xiao-Ling Liu, Chun-Yan Yao, Xiang Li, Na Wu, Cheng-Ying Li, Long Wu, Ya-Fei Li & Tong-Jian Cai

  2. Health Management Center, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi’an, 710032, China

    Shu-Jie An

  3. Department of Health Economics Management, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University, Xi’an, 710032, China

    Yi Cao

  4. Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Xijing Hospital, Air Force Medical University (Fourth Military Medical University), Xi’an, 710032, China

    Chen Xu

  5. Department of Plastic & Cosmetic Surgery, Daping Hospital, Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University), Chongqing, 400042, People’s Republic of China

    Xiang Li

  6. Department of Preventive Medicine, Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, Chongqing, 401331, China

    Ai-Ling Ji

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  1. Yu-Meng Zhou
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Contributions

Yu-Meng Zhou: formal analysis, investigation, writing—original draft. Shu-Jie An: formal analysis, investigation, resources. Yi Cao: investigation, data curation. Chen Xu: supervision, validation. Xiao-Ling Liu: investigation. Chun-Yan Yao: methodology. Xiang Li: methodology. Na Wu: investigation. Cheng-Ying Li: investigation. Long Wu: data curation. Ya-Fei Li: validation. Ai-Ling Ji: conceptualization, supervision, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing. Tong-Jian Cai: conceptualization, project administration, supervision, funding acquisition, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tong-Jian Cai.

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Ethics approval and consent to participate

This is a retrospective study and there was no direct contact with patients. So, the informed consents were not obtained. Additionally, the plan was approved by the Ethics Committee of Army Medical University (Third Military Medical University) and complied with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Not applicable.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zhou, YM., An, SJ., Cao, Y. et al. Elder people can be more susceptible to the association between short-term ambient air pollution and sleep disorder outpatient visits: a time-series study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 64902–64913 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20242-w

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