AgingResearch.NewsJoin free
Archives of Public Health

Air pollution and night light jointly linked to deaths in China

Their joint link to mortality exceeded what adding their separate excess risks predicted, with an excess relative risk due to interaction of 0.570.

Paper by Zhe Wang, Yumeng Du, Yi Liu, Beiwen Zheng, Jianhua Qian
Figure 1 from Archives of Public Health
Open the figure at full size
Figure 1. Wang et al., CC BY-NC-ND

Our read

Populations
Studied:
Cohort study of people in China, 2011 to 2020 (Dose-response)
What changed:
Combined pollution and nighttime light exposure was linked to higher death risk than predicted by adding their separate excess risks
The catch:
Estimated exposures may misrepresent the pollution people inhaled and the nighttime light they encountered
In the record:
The 8th paper on artificial light at night with results in people; 22 on record in all.
Why it’s aging research:
It measures an outcome that worsens with age.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
Follow @agingbrief

People in China enrolled in four nationally representative long-term cohort studies were included in an observational analysis of air pollution, artificial light at night and mortality. The researchers assessed exposure using fine-particle pollution estimates and satellite nighttime-light data. From 2011 to 2020, they recorded 9,897 deaths over 532,773 combined years of follow-up.

Higher levels of fine-particle pollution and nighttime light were each associated with higher mortality. Their combined association was greater than expected from adding their separate excess risks. The authors also found synergistic associations between components of fine-particle pollution and nighttime light. They identified people older than 75, single people and those with less education as more susceptible.

Why it matters

For older populations, examining air pollution and nighttime light together may offer a fuller picture of environmental risks to survival.

Caveats

Environmental exposure estimates may not reflect what each person inhaled or the light they encountered. Other differences between people with higher and lower exposures may also have contributed to the mortality links.

Where the evidence stands

Artificial light at night

Humans: replicated by independent labs. Worms or flies and mice: a single group. Cells: nothing yet.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

Against: findings that point the other way from most findings on the same outcome.

  • 12 independent labs in 6 countries
  • 2 findings against
  • Funders: National Institutes of Health and others

Ammonium

Worms or flies and humans: a single group. Cells and mice: nothing yet.

C, W, M, H: cells, worms or flies, mice, humans. Dark: independent labs found the same change there. Light: one lab or one study. Outline: nothing yet.

Labs are independent when their papers share no last author and no institution.

  • 15 independent labs in 5 countries
  • Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China and others

Comments

Be the first to comment.

More on Ammonium