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Haze is a risk factor contributing to the rapid spread of respiratory syncytial virus in children

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Abstract

This study investigated whether respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in children was associated with ambient temperature and air pollutants in Hangzhou, China. A distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to estimate the effects of daily meteorological data and air pollutants on the incidence of RSV infection among children. A total of 3650 childhood RSV infection cases were included in the study. The highest air pollutant concentrations were in January to May and October to December during the year. The yearly RSV-positive rate was 10.0 % among children with an average age of 4.3 months. The highest RSV-positive rate occurred among patients 0 to 3 months old. Children under 6.5 months old accounted for 80 % of the total patients infected by RSV. A negative correlation was found between ambient temperature and RSV infection, and it was strongest with minimum ambient temperature (r = −0.804, P < 0.001). There was a positive correlation between the infection rate and the particulate matter (PM) 2.5 (r = 0.446, P < 0.001), PM10 (r = 0.397, P < 0.001), SO2 (r = 0.389, P < 0.001), NO2 (r = 0.365, P < 0.001) and CO (r = 0.532, P < 0.001). The current study suggested that temperature was an important factor associated with RSV infection among children in Hangzhou. Air pollutants significantly increased the risk of RSV infection with dosage, lag and cumulative effects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Neonatal Diseases, The Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Qing Ye, Jun-fen Fu, Jian-hua Mao & Shi-qiang Shang

  2. Clinical Laboratory, The Children’s Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Shi-qiang Shang

Authors
  1. Qing Ye
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  2. Jun-fen Fu
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  3. Jian-hua Mao
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  4. Shi-qiang Shang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shi-qiang Shang.

Ethics declarations

The study was approved by the medical ethics committee of the Children’s Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. Written informed consent was obtained from the guardians of the child participants who were enrolled in the study.

Funding

This project was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81501760), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LQ16H050002) and Zhejiang Provincial Healthy Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 2015KYB191). The funders did not take part in the study.

Author contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: Shi-qiang Shang. Performed the experiments: Jun-fen Fu, Jian-hua Mao and Shi-qiang Shang. Analysed the data: Jun-fen Fu. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: Jun-fen Fu, Jian-hua Mao and Shi-qiang Shang. Wrote the paper: Qing Ye.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by: Philippe Garrigues

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Ye, Q., Fu, Jf., Mao, Jh. et al. Haze is a risk factor contributing to the rapid spread of respiratory syncytial virus in children. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 20178–20185 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7228-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-7228-6

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