Air pollution, urgent asthma medical visits and the modifying effect of neighborhood asthma prevalence

Fungal diversity in homes and asthma morbidity among school-age children in New York City

BACKGROUND

Asthma development has been inversely associated with exposure to fungal diversity. However, the influence of fungi on measures of asthma morbidity is not well understood.

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that fungal diversity is inversely associated with neighborhood asthma prevalence and identify specific fungal species associated with asthma morbidity.

METHODS

Children aged 7-8 years (n = 347) living in higher (11-18%) and lower (3-9%) asthma prevalence neighborhoods were recruited within an asthma case-control study. Fungal communities were analyzed from floor dust using high-throughput DNA sequencing. A subset of asthmatic children (n = 140) was followed to age 10-11 to determine asthma persistence.

RESULTS

Neighborhood asthma prevalence was inversely associated with fungal species richness (P = 0.010) and Shannon diversity (P = 0.059). Associations between neighborhood asthma prevalence and diversity indices were driven by differences in building type and presence of bedroom carpet. Among children with asthma at age 7-8 years, Shannon fungal diversity was inversely associated with frequent asthma symptoms at that age (OR 0.57, P = 0.025) and with asthma persistence to age 10-11 (OR 0.48, P = 0.043). Analyses of individual fungal species did not show significant associations with asthma outcomes when adjusted for false discovery rates.

DISCUSSION

Lower fungal diversity was associated with asthma symptoms in this urban setting. Individual fungal species associated with asthma morbidity were not detected. Further research is warranted into building type, carpeting, and other environmental characteristics which influence fungal exposures in homes.

Assessing Neighborhood-scale Traffic from Crowd-sensed Traffic Data: Findings from an Environmental Justice Community in New York City

BACKGROUND

The waterfront in the South Bronx in New York City is used industrially and harbors the Harlem River Yards (HRY). The HRY borders an environmental justice area, which includes a mixed-use area that is separated from a densely populated residential area by interstates. Recently, development of the HRY has expanded including the 2018 opening of a large online store warehouse.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to evaluate trends in traffic congestion nearby the HRY between 2017 to 2019.

METHODS

We analyzed one-hourly time series of crowd-sensed traffic congestion maps, both at the neighborhood scale and the road stretch level. Traffic radar measurements at two locations did not indicate bias in the crowd-sensed data over the study period, i.e., changed mappings between vehicle speed and the reported congestion.

RESULTS

In the mixed-use areas, traffic congestion increased significantly during all hours of the day, with greatest increases at night and in the morning. Congestion increased close to the entrances of the HRY and along routes used by pedestrians and bicyclists to access a nearby recreational area. In the residential area, congestion increased significantly from midnight to morning and was unchanged for the remainder of the day. On the interstates, congestion decreased during the daytime but increased at night.

CONCLUSIONS

Neighborhood-scale traffic congestion increased in mixed-use and residential areas in an environmental justice community. Our methods can be applied globally as long as crowd-sensed traffic data can be acquired. The data enable communities to advocate for mitigating measures.

Multiomics to elucidate inflammatory bowel disease risk factors and pathways

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an immune-mediated disease of the intestinal tract, with complex pathophysiology involving genetic, environmental, microbiome, immunological and potentially other factors. Epidemiological data have provided important insights into risk factors associated with IBD, but are limited by confounding, biases and data quality, especially when pertaining to risk factors in early life. Multiomics platforms provide granular high-throughput data on numerous variables simultaneously and can be leveraged to characterize molecular pathways and risk factors for chronic diseases, such as IBD. Herein, we describe omics platforms that can advance our understanding of IBD risk factors and pathways, and available omics data on IBD and other relevant diseases. We highlight knowledge gaps and emphasize the importance of birth, at-risk and pre-diagnostic cohorts, and neonatal blood spots in omics analyses in IBD. Finally, we discuss network analysis, a powerful bioinformatics tool to assemble high-throughput data and derive clinical relevance.

Impact of the State of Emergency during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 on Asthma Exacerbations among Children in Kobe City, Japan

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic altered environmental factors. We studied the impact of these changes on asthma exacerbation (AE) by comparing the AE-related environmental factors between COVID-19 (2020) and pre-COVID-19 (2011–2019) eras. Between 2011 and 2020, 278,465 children (<16 years old) visited our emergency department, and 7476 were diagnosed with AE. The number of patients showed spring and fall peaks in 2011–2019. Multivariate analyses showed significant positive relationships of the number of AE patients with the average temperature among all patients and 0–5-year-olds and with sulfur dioxide (SO₂) levels in 2011–2019 among 0–5-year-olds. Although the spring peak in the number of patients was not observed in 2020 after declaration of a state of emergency, the fall peak was again observed after the state of emergency was lifted. No changes in average temperature were detected, but SO₂ was significantly reduced following declaration of the state of emergency in 2020. Therefore, SO₂ reduction might have contributed to the disappearance of the peak of AE. However, a fall peak was observed again in 2020, although SO₂ levels continued to be low. These data suggest that person to person interaction seems to be associated with AE, presumably due to unknown viral infections.

Inequalities and Inequities in Pediatric Respiratory Diseases

Social inequality refers to disparities in society that have the effect of limiting a group's socioeconomic, educational, and intellectual potential. Inequity in health means any limitation to access comprehensive health services that also hinders the achievement of well-being and favorable health outcomes. Strategies for more equitable growth to eradicate global poverty would contribute to reducing health inequities and improve health care outcomes. Coordinated efforts between governments, private sector, families, and interested stakeholders are needed. This article discusses inequality and inequity in pediatric respiratory diseases, the challenges confronted, and the strategies needed to mitigate these disparities.

Evaluation of associations between asthma exacerbations and distance to roadways using geocoded electronic health records data

Background

Asthma exacerbations in children often require medications, urgent care, and hospitalization. Multiple environmental triggers have been associated with asthma exacerbations, including particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and ozone, which are primarily generated by motor vehicle exhaust. There is mixed evidence as to whether proximity to highways increases risk of asthma exacerbations.

Methods

To evaluate the impact of highway proximity, we assessed the association between asthma exacerbations and the distance of child’s primary residence to two types of roadways in Durham County, North Carolina, accounting for other patient-level factors. We abstracted data from the Duke University Health System electronic health record (EHR), identifying 6208 children with asthma between 2014 and 2019. We geocoded each child’s distance to roadways (both 35 MPH+ and 55 MPH+). We classified asthma exacerbation severity into four tiers and fitted a recurrent event survival model to account for multiple exacerbations.

Results

There was a no observed effect of residential distance from 55+ MPH highway (Hazard Ratio: 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.94, 1.01)) and distance to 35+ MPH roadway (Hazard Ratio: 0.98 (95% confidence interval: 0.83, 1.15)) and any asthma exacerbation. Even those children living closest to highways (less 0.25 miles) had no increased risk of exacerbation. These results were consistent across different demographic strata.

Conclusions

While the results were non-significant, the characteristics of the study sample – namely farther distance to roadways and generally good ambient environmental pollution may contribute to the lack of effect. Compared to previous studies, which often relied on self-reported measures, we were able to obtain a more objective assessment of outcomes. Overall, this work highlights the opportunity to use EHR data to study environmental impacts on disease.

Supplementary Information

Supplementary information accompanies this paper at 10.1186/s12889-020-09731-0.

The Role and Potential Pathogenic Mechanism of Particulate Matter in Childhood Asthma: A Review and Perspective

Asthma, the most common chronic respiratory disease in children, affects numerous people worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that exposure to high levels of particulate matter (PM), either acutely or chronically, is associated with the exacerbation and incidence of pediatric asthma. However, the detailed pathogenic mechanisms by which PM contributes to the incidence of asthma remain largely unknown. In this short review, we summarize studies of relationships between PM and pediatric asthma and recent advances on the fundamental mechanisms of PM-related asthma, with emphases on cell death regulation and immune system responses. We further discuss the inadequacy of current studies and give a perspective on the prevention strategies for pediatric asthma.

Adverse Birth Outcomes as Indicators of Poor Fetal Growth Conditions in a French Newborn Population-A Stratified Analysis by Neighborhood Deprivation Level

Background: Adverse birth outcomes are related to unfavorable fetal growth conditions. A latent variable, named Favorable Fetal Growth Condition (FFGC), has been defined by Bollen et al., in 2013; he showed that this FFGC latent variable mediates the effects of maternal characteristics on several birth outcomes. Objectives: The objectives of the present study were to replicate Bollen’s approach in a population of newborns in Paris and to investigate the potential differential effect of the FFGC latent variable according to the neighborhood socioeconomic level. Methods: Newborn health data were available from the first birth certificate registered by the Maternal and Child Care department of the City of Paris. All newborns (2008–2011) were geocoded at the mother residential census block. Each census block was assigned a socioeconomic deprivation level. Several mothers’ characteristics were collected from the birth certificates: age, parity, education and occupational status and the occupational status of the father. Three birth outcomes were considered: birth weight (BW), birth length (BL) and gestational age (GA). Results: Using a series of structural equation models, we confirm that the undirected model (that includes the FFGC latent variable) provided a better fit for the data compared with the model where parental characteristics directly affected BW, BL, and/or GA. However, the strength, the direction and statistical significance of the associations between the exogenous variables and the FFGC were different according to the neighborhood deprivation level. Conclusion: Future research should be designed to assess the how robust the FFGC latent variable is across populations and should take into account neighborhood characteristics to identify the most vulnerable group and create better design prevention policies.

Effects of air pollution on moderate and severe asthma exacerbations

Background: Few studies have evaluated the impact of air pollution levels on the severity of exacerbations. Thus, we compared the relative risks posed by air pollutant levels on moderate and severe exacerbations.Methods: Exacerbation episodes of 618 from 143 adult asthmatics were retrospectively collected between 2005 and 2015 in a tertiary hospital of Korea. Air pollution GPS data for the location closest to each patient's home were obtained from the national ambient monitoring station. The relative impacts of air pollutants on asthma exacerbations were evaluated via a time-trend controlled symmetrical, bidirectional, case-crossover design using conditional logistic regression models on the day of the exacerbation (T-0) and up to 3 days before the exacerbation (T-1-T-3).Results: Overall asthma exacerbation were associated with O₃ levels in summer and winter (OR: 1.012[1.003-1.02] and 1.009[1.003-1.016]), SO₂ levels in spring and summer (OR: 1.009[1-1.018] and 1.02[1.006-1.035]) and NO₂ levels in winter (OR: 1.007[1.003-1.011]). Analyses of the temporal relationship between O₃ concentrations and exacerbations demonstrated that 63.2% of episodes in the summer occurred when the O₃ concentrations on T-1 were significantly higher than those on control days, while 51% of exacerbation episodes in the winter occurred. Severe and moderate exacerbations were similarly associated with O₃ levels in winter (OR: 1.012 [1.003-1.02] vs. 1.01 [0.999-1.021], p > 0.05) and in summer (OR: 1.006 [1.002-1.009] vs. 1.009 [1.003-1.016], p > 0.05).Conclusions: Asthma exacerbations may be associated with the seasonal elevation of O₃, SO₂ and NO₂ levels in summer and winter with the similar relative risk between moderate and severe exacerbations.