Cohort study examines air pollution and physical activity effects on cardiometabolic multimorbidity risk, suggesting protective benefits of physical activity.
Key Points
This study investigates how air pollution and physical activity relate to the incidence of cardiometabolic multimorbidity in older adults.
Utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2015-2020
Analyzed air pollutant levels including PM 2.5, PM 10, NO 2, SO 2, CO, and O 3
Categorized physical activity into four metabolic equivalent quartiles (Q1-Q4)
Employed Cox regression models and dose-response analysis with restricted cubic splines
Applied Baron & Kenny's method for mediation analysis
741 participants developed cardiometabolic multimorbidity over the follow-up period
All air pollutants were significantly associated with increased CMM risk, with SO 2 showing the highest hazard ratio (HR=2.768)
Higher levels of physical activity were shown to have protective effects against CMM
Non-linear relationships were found between both pollutants and CMM and between physical activity and CMM
Physical activity partially mediated the relationship between pollutants and CMM with proportions ranging from 5.71% to 19.88%.