Air pollution, physical activity, and incident gestational diabetes mellitus: a prospective cohort study
Year: 2022
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: BACKGROUND AND AIM Physical activity (PA) during pregnancy has been linked to decreased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). However, engaging in PA may increase exposure to air pollutants. We aimed to examine whether and how exposure to air pollution may affect the protective effect of PA on GDM. METHODS This study included 21,545 pregnant women from the Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study, China. Exposure to ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), and less than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM2.5) were estimated by the inverse distance-weighted models. Information on PA was collected using a self-administrated questionnaire. We used generalized estimating equations to calculate covariate-adjusted relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations of air pollution, PA, and the multiplicative interaction of the two with the risk of GDM. RESULTS The GDM risk was inversely associated with overall PA level (RR, 0.93; 95% CI: 0.89, 0.96). Per 10 μg/m3 increase in O3 concentration conferred a 12% (95%CI: 6%, 18%) increase in the risk of GDM. Higher overall PA was associated with a lower GDM risk among women with low O3 exposure (RR, 0.88; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.95), but not among women with high O3 exposure (RR, 0.97; 95% CI: 0.91, 1.04) (P interaction = 0.008). Exposure to other air pollutants did not modify the association between overall PA and GDM. CONCLUSIONS PA and exposure to air pollutants were associated with GDM risk in the opposite direction. O3 exposure, but not other air pollutants, attenuated the protective effect of PA on GDM. Our finding highlights the importance of improving air quality to keep the beneficial effect of PA. KEYWORDS air pollutants, gestational diabetes, physical activity, ozone
Source: ISEE Conference Abstracts
Language: English
Subfield: Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4316924786