The Impact of Air Pollutant Exposure on Diabetes Hospital Admissions in a City in Xinjiang

Emerging evidence highlights air pollution as a critical environmental risk factor for diabetes exacerbation. In Xinjiang’s unique climatic context, characterized by prolonged heating seasons and temperature inversions, pollutant dispersion is severely constrained, potentially amplifying health impacts. This study will collect the daily hospitalization admissions of 10 comprehensive hospitals in a certain city in Xinjiang from 2021 to 2022, along with air pollutants and meteorological monitoring data during the same period. The relationship between air pollutant concentrations and the daily hospital admission rates of diabetes patients was analyzed using a distributed lag non-linear model. There was no statistically significant difference between the impact of PM2.5 and PM10 exposure on daily hospital admission rates, with RR values reaching peak values at lag5 and lag0 days of 1.06 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.12) and 1.08 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.16), respectively. NO, SO2, O3, and CO affected the daily hospital admission rate of diabetic patients, with RR values reaching peak values at lag5, lag1, lag5, and lag2 days of 1.21 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.31), 1.69 (95% CI: 1.43, 1.99), 1.23 (95% CI: 1.14, 1.34), and 1.36 (95% CI: 1.21, 1.53), respectively. PM10 had an immediate effect only on the daily hospital admission rate of males, reaching a peak at lag0 day of 1.16 (95% CI: 1.05, 1.28); NO2 displayed the largest RR values for females and those over 65 years of age at 1.26 (95% CI: 1.11, 1.44) and 1.23 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.41), respectively, and these results were statistically significant. The results show that exposure to NO2, SO2, O3, and CO increased the risk of hospitalization for diabetes. The diabetic population of women and those over 65 years of age were more vulnerable to exposure to NO2 and CO, resulting in an increased hospitalization risk. During the entire day and the period from 9 AM to 9 PM, the trend of the influence of NO2 on the daily hospitalization admission of diabetic patients varies the most, while there is no obvious change trend for the other pollutants.