Interactive Effects of Ambient Fine Particulate Matter and Ozone on Childhood Allergic Rhinitis: China, Children, Homes, Health Study

Early-life co-exposure to O3 and PM2.5 amplifies childhood allergic rhinitis risk. PM2.5 and O3 jointly increased allergic rhinitis risk in preschool children, especially during infancy. Their synergistic effects appeared only above interaction thresholds and showed nonlinear exposure-response patterns, with stronger effects in eastern and central China. If you are interested in our data, please contact the corresponding author to obtain the original data based on the innovative research proposal proposed by data applicants. Table S1: AR, demographic characteristics, living and home environment in preschool children in 7 cities of China in 2019. Table S2: Additive interaction effects for PM2.5 and O3 in infancy and in subgroups stratified by regions. Figure S1: O3 and PM2.5 exposure levels during pregnancy and in infancy in each city. Figure S2: Identification of the interaction threshold between PM2.5 and O3 during pregnancy and characterization of the exposure–response curves below and above the threshold. Note: In panel (a), the solid horizontal black lines on the x-axis represent the concentration range for one air pollutant. The Y-axis represents the association (OR) for the other air pollutant and the health outcome. The vertical dashed lines indicate the threshold of the X-axis pollutant, over which the association for the other air pollutant reached statistical significance. The threshold levels of O3 and PM2.5 in infancy were identified by J-N analysis, and the highest cut-off values out of the 3 health outcomes were identified as 53.6 μg/m3 for O3, and 46.5 μg/m3 for PM2.5, respectively. In panel (b), the synergistic indices for O3 and PM2.5 in infancy. The high and low concentration thresholds for O3 and PM2.5 are determined based on interaction thresholds from the J-N analysis, with thresholds set at 53.6 μg/m3 for O3 and 46.5 μg/m3 for PM2.5. RERI, Relative Excess Risk due to Interaction; AP, the Attributable Proportion due to Interaction; SI, Synergy Index. In panel (c), the E-R curves for one air pollutant in infancy with the other air pollutant below or over the threshold levels. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.