Abstract
Evidence around the relationship between air pollution and the development of diabetes mellitus (DM) remains limited and inconsistent. To investigate the potential mediation effect of asprosin on the association between fine particulate matter (PM2.5), tropospheric ozone (O3) and blood glucose homeostasis. A case–control study was conducted on a total of 320 individuals aged over 60 years, including both diabetic and non-diabetic individuals, from six communities in Taiyuan, China, from July to September 2021. Generalized linear models (GLMs) suggested that short-term exposure to PM2.5 was associated with elevated fasting blood glucose (FBG), insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), as well as reduced pancreatic β-cell function index (HOMA-β), and short-term exposure to O3 was associated with increased FBG and decreased HOMA-β in the total population and elderly diabetic patients. Mediation analysis showed that asprosin played a mediating role in the relationship of PM2.5 and O3 with FBG, with mediating ratios of 10.2% and 18.4%, respectively. Our study provides emerging evidence supporting that asprosin mediates the short-term effects of exposure to PM2.5 and O3 on elevated FBG levels in an elderly population. Additionally, the elderly who are diabetic, over 70 years, and BMI over 24 kg/m2 are more vulnerable to air pollutants and need additional protection to reduce their exposure to air pollution.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.
Abbreviations
- PM2.5 :
-
Fine particulate matter
- O3 :
-
Tropospheric ozone
- DM2:
-
Type 2 diabetes mellitus
- FBG:
-
Fasting blood glucose
- FINS:
-
Fasting insulin
- HbA1c:
-
Glycosylated hemoglobin
- HOMA-IR:
-
Insulin resistance index
- HOMA-β:
-
Pancreatic β-cell function index
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the help of Liying Nie (the Community of Qiao Dong), Xu Wang (the Community of Hao Zhuang), Yanhua Hu (the Community of Lao Junying), Gaifang Zhao (the Community of Miao Qian), Lixia Gao (the Community of Wen Miao), and Xueqin Yang (the Community of Mianhua Xiang) in successfully conducting this epidemiological investigation and the help of Ren Li (Shanxi Medical University) and Na Cao (Shanxi Medical University) in revising this manuscript.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82273595).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Yuhui Gao and Huiqiu Zheng designed the study. Jiayu Tian, Zeyu Niu, Dongxing Shi, and Halimaimaiti Nasier conducted questionnaire survey. Nannan Liu, Hongmei Zhang, and Zhihong Zhang provided methodology. Linlin Guan and Lifang Zhao performed the experiments. Lulu Song analyzed data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Caihong Wang provided suggestions for revisions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. The remaining authors checked formatting of the manuscript.
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Song, L., Gao, Y., Tian, J. et al. The mediation effect of asprosin on the association between ambient air pollution and diabetes mellitus in the elderly population in Taiyuan, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 19674–19686 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32255-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32255-8