Impacts of Chinese spring festival on household PM _2.5 pollution and blood pressure of rural residents

Abstract

Background: Household air pollution (HAP) from residential combustion considerably affects human health in rural China. Large-scale population migration and rural lifestyle changes during the Spring Festival are supposed to change the household air pollution and health risks; however, limited field study has determined its impacts on HAP and short-term health outcomes.Methods: A field study was conducted in rural areas of Southern China before and during the Spring Festival to explore the associations between HAP and blood pressure considering different factors such as cooking fuel, heating fuel, and smoking.Stationary real-time PM 2.5 monitors were used to measure PM 2.5 concentrations of the kitchen, living room, and yard of 156 randomly selected households. Personal exposure to PM 2.5 was calculated based on the results of stationary samplers and corresponding time local residents spent in different microenvironments, and one adult resident was recruited of each family for the blood pressure measurement.Results: Both personal exposure to PM 2.5 and blood pressures of local residents increased during Spring Festival compared to the days before the holiday. Based on generalized linear model coupled with dominance analysis approach, it was found that personal PM 2.5 exposure was positively associated with the factors of population size and the types of cooking and heating fuels with the relative contributions of approximately 82%, and systolic blood pressure (SBP, 100-120 mmHg as normal range for adults) was positively and significantly associated with personal PM 2.5 exposures with the relative contribution of 11%. Conclusion:The findings in this study demonstrated that Spring Festival can give rise to increase of HAP and hypertension risks, also related to tremendous solid fuel use, suggesting further policy making on promoting cleaner energy in rural areas and more attention on large population migration during national holidays.

The effect of COVID-19 restrictions on particulate matter on different modes of transport in China

“…A microAeth® MA 200 (Beijing Saak-Mar Environmental Instrument Ltd., Beijing, China) was used to measure BC in ng/m 3 simultaneously. Both devices have been used in several previous studies ( Chen et al, 2020 ; Du et al, 2021 ; Shen et al, 2021a ). Before each field campaign, the PM monitor was calibrated against a particulate matter monitor (model 5030 synchronized hybrid ambient real-time particulate monitor, Thermo Scientific) and the BC monitor was calibrated according to the user manual and setting guide.…”

Non-negligible contributions to human health from increased household air pollution exposure during the COVID-19 lockdown in China

“…However, these two studies fail to consider indoor air pollution and its associated health effects. Several studies have emphasized the possible deterioration of indoor air pollution resulting from home isolation due to COVID-19 ( Abouleish, 2020 ; Du and Wang, 2020 , Du et al, 2021a , Du et al, 2021b , Ezani et al, 2021 , Thakur et al, 2020 , Shen et al, 2021 ). In this study, we innovatively assessed both ambient and indoor PM 2.5 changes due to lockdowns and evaluated the short-term health impacts of PM 2.5 changes by using up-to-date emissions data from 2020, a state-of-the-art regional chemical transport model (CTM), an integrated exposure assessment model and the latest epidemiological studies.…”

Global magnitude and long‐term trend of ischemic heart disease burden attributed to household air pollution from solid fuels in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019

“…Particulate matter in HAP is likely to cause oxidative stress, inflammation, abnormal lipid metabolism, and thrombosis in circulation, which will adversely affect endothelial function, and then induce atherosclerosis, the main pathological process behind IHD. [25][26][27][28][29] Exposure to air pollution was associated with higher blood pressure [30][31][32] and an imbalance of the autonomic control of the heart and reduced heart rate variability, [33][34][35] both of which were implicated as potential mediators of cardiovascular events.…”