Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lipid profiles: a longitudinal study in a heavily industrialized region of northern China.
5 affiliations
- 1First Clinical Medical College of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
- 2Department of Neurology, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China.
- 3Yulin Meteorological Bureau, Yulin, Shaanxi, China.
- 4Institute of Environmental Meteorology and Health, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, China.
- 5State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather Meteorological Science and Technology, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Meteorology, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China.
Abstract
Background
Dyslipidemia is an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and growing evidence suggests that long-term ambient air pollution exposure may adversely affect lipid metabolism. However, longitudinal evidence from heavily industrialized regions with complex multipollutant exposure remains limited.Methods
We conducted a repeated-measures study of 9,040 adults with 19,113 lipid measurements from a health-screening program in Shanxi Province, China, between October 2019 and September 2023. Three-year average exposures to PM2.5, PM₁₀, O₃, SO₂, NO₂, and CO were estimated using the high-resolution ChinaHighAirPollutants (CHAP) dataset based on geocoded residential addresses. Linear mixed-effects models and generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate associations with lipid profiles and dyslipidemia, respectively. Restricted cubic spline, stratified, sensitivity, and quantile g-computation-style mixed-effects analyses were further conducted.Results
Higher long-term exposure to PM2.5, PM₁₀, O₃, NO₂, and SO₂ was associated with higher triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, whereas CO showed weaker associations. Among pollutants, PM2.5 showed relatively pronounced associations; each 10 μg/m³ increase was associated with 1.85, 1.70, and 1.81% increases in TG, TC, and LDL-C, respectively, and a 1.55% decrease in HDL-C. Similar patterns were observed for dyslipidemia. Stratified analyses suggested potential effect modification by sex, age, and BMI for selected pollutant-lipid associations, with the most robust interaction signals observed for age-stratified HDL-C associations after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. The associations remained consistent in sensitivity analyses. Restricted cubic spline analyses suggested nonlinear exposure-response relationships between PM2.5 and lipid parameters, while the quantile g-computation-style mixed-effects analysis indicated that multipollutant exposure was associated with adverse lipid profiles, with PM2.5 and O₃ showing relatively large weights in the overall mixed-exposure association.Conclusion
Long-term ambient air pollution exposure was associated with adverse lipid profiles and may be related to higher odds of dyslipidemia among adults in a heavily industrialized region of northern China. These findings suggest that ambient air pollution may be an important environmental factor associated with lipid metabolism and highlight the need to consider long-term multipollutant exposure in cardiometabolic health research and prevention strategies.
Related
- Air pollution exposure and cataract outcomes: a systematic review and pollutant-specific meta-analysis
- The effect of air pollution exposure on mortality: a time series study in Sivas, Türkiye
- The association between air pollution exposure during pregnancy and low birth weight: a retrospective cohort study in southern China
- Air pollution is associated with sex‐specific longitudinal changes in astrocytic and neuroinflammatory processes linked to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease at‐risk individuals
- Association of depression and epilepsy in rural northern Rwanda: a prospective longitudinal study with a patient-centered approach
BibTeX
@article{sun2026longterm,
title = {{Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lipid profiles: a longitudinal study in a heavily industrialized region of northern China.}},
author = {Caiyun Sun and Xiaofeng Li and Yuanjia Miao and Jiayu Shen and Yang Jin and Feng Ma and Shigong Wang and Jingxin Li and Changxin Li},
journal = {Frontiers in public health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950282},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903168},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and lipid profiles: a longitudinal study in a heavily industrialized region of northern China.
AU - Caiyun Sun
AU - Xiaofeng Li
AU - Yuanjia Miao
AU - Jiayu Shen
AU - Yang Jin
AU - Feng Ma
AU - Shigong Wang
AU - Jingxin Li
AU - Changxin Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/06
JO - Frontiers in public health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1950282
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42903168
AB - Background Dyslipidemia is an important modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and growing evidence suggests that long-term ambient air pollution exposure may adversely affect lipid metabolism. However, longitudinal evidence from heavily industrialized regions with complex multipollutant exposure remains limited.Methods We conducted a repeated-measures study of 9,040 adults with 19,113 lipid measurements from a health-screening program in Shanxi Province, China, between October 2019 and September 2023. Three-year average exposures to PM2.5, PM₁₀, O₃, SO₂, NO₂, and CO were estimated using the high-resolution ChinaHighAirPollutants (CHAP) dataset based on geocoded residential addresses. Linear mixed-effects models and generalized linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate associations with lipid profiles and dyslipidemia, respectively. Restricted cubic spline, stratified, sensitivity, and quantile g-computation-style mixed-effects analyses were further conducted.Results Higher long-term exposure to PM2.5, PM₁₀, O₃, NO₂, and SO₂ was associated with higher triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels, whereas CO showed weaker associations. Among pollutants, PM2.5 showed relatively pronounced associations; each 10 μg/m³ increase was associated with 1.85, 1.70, and 1.81% increases in TG, TC, and LDL-C, respectively, and a 1.55% decrease in HDL-C. Similar patterns were observed for dyslipidemia. Stratified analyses suggested potential effect modification by sex, age, and BMI for selected pollutant-lipid associations, with the most robust interaction signals observed for age-stratified HDL-C associations after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. The associations remained consistent in sensitivity analyses. Restricted cubic spline analyses suggested nonlinear exposure-response relationships between PM2.5 and lipid parameters, while the quantile g-computation-style mixed-effects analysis indicated that multipollutant exposure was associated with adverse lipid profiles, with PM2.5 and O₃ showing relatively large weights in the overall mixed-exposure association.Conclusion Long-term ambient air pollution exposure was associated with adverse lipid profiles and may be related to higher odds of dyslipidemia among adults in a heavily industrialized region of northern China. These findings suggest that ambient air pollution may be an important environmental factor associated with lipid metabolism and highlight the need to consider long-term multipollutant exposure in cardiometabolic health research and prevention strategies.
SN - 2296-2565
ER -