Modification of food allergy on the associations between early-life
exposure to size-specific particulate matter and childhood allergic
rhinitis
Abstract
Background: Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has
been associated with an increased risk of allergic rhinitis in children.
However, it is unclear whether food allergy modifies the association
between PM exposure and childhood allergic rhinitis.
Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the modification of food
allergy on the association between PM exposure and allergic rhinitis in
preschool children. Methods: We adopted a cross-sectional study
and conducted a questionnaire survey among preschool children aged 3 to
6 years in 7 cities in China from June 2019 to June 2020 to collect
information on allergic rhinitis. A mature machine learning-based
space-time extremely randomized trees model was applied to estimate
early-life, prenatal, and first-year exposure of PM 1,
PM 2.5 and PM 10 at 1 × 1-km resolution.
We used a combination of multilevel logistic regression and restricted
cubic spline functions to quantitatively assess whether food allergy
modifies the associations between size-specific PM exposure and the risk
of childhood allergic rhinitis. Results: The adjusted ORs for
childhood allergic rhinitis among the children with food allergy as per
interquartile range (IQR) increase in early-life PM 1,
PM 2.5 and PM 10 were significantly
higher than the corresponding ORs among the children without food
allergy [e.g. OR: 1.57, 95% CI (1.32, 1.87) vs. 1.29, 95% CI (1.18,
1.41), for per IQR increase in PM 1 (9.8 μg/m
3)]. The similar patterns were observed for both
prenatal and first-year size-specific PM exposure. The interactions
between food allergy and size-specific PM exposure on childhood allergic
rhinitis were statistically significant (all p-
int < 0.001). Conclusions: Food
allergy, as an important part of the allergic disease progression, may
modify the association between ambient PM exposure and the risk of
childhood allergic rhinitis. Children with food allergy should pay more
attention to minimize outdoor air pollutants exposure to prevent the
further progression of allergic diseases.