Air pollution linked to kidney disease risk, even at low levels
A 25-year study of nearly 25,000 Danish nurses found that long-term exposure to fine particulate matter increased chronic kidney disease risk by 18%, challenging assumptions that only heavily polluted areas pose health threats. The finding suggests air quality regulations may need tightening to protect public health and reduce costly kidney disease treatment burdens on healthcare systems.
Originaltitel: Long-term exposure to air pollution and chronic kidney disease incidence in adults: The Danish Nurse Cohort.
**Luftföroreningar länkade till njursjukdom – implikation för exponeringsmapping** Långvarig exponering för luftföroreningar korrelerar med ökad risk för kronisk njursjukdom (CKD), enligt en dansk kohortanalys av 24 581 sjuksköterskor följda från 1993–2018. Forskarna identifierade positiva associationer mellan partiklar (PM₂,₅) och kväveoxider (NO₂) och första sjukhuskontakt för CKD-diagnos — hazardkvoten var 1,18 per interkvartilintervall för PM₂,₅. Under 521 000 personår registrerades 429 CKD-fall. Effektstorleken var beskeden, men konsistent även vid låga pollutionsnivåer, vilket indikerar att även utvecklade länder måste räkna med njurpåverkan från luftkvalitet. Studien från Köpenhamns universitet och Lunds universitet åtgärdar ett gap i evidensen: medan hjärt- och metaboliska sjukdomar länkats till luftförorening tidigare, saknas CKD-data. För miljömonitoring, försäkringskalkyler och exponeringskartläggning blir detta relevant underlaget för riskbedömning av arbetsmiljöer och stadsplanering.
BACKGROUND: Air pollution is an established risk factor for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but evidence on chronic kidney diseases (CKD) remains limited. OBJECTIVE: We aim to examine the association between long-term exposure to air pollutants and CKD incidence. METHODS: We followed 24,581 female nurses from the Danish Nurse Cohort, recruited in 1993 or 1999, for their first-ever hospital contact with a primary or secondary CKD diagnosis until 2018. We estimated annual mean levels of particulate matter with a diameter < 2.5 µm (PM RESULTS: Over 521,211 person-years of follow-up, 429 nurses developed CKD. We found positive associations of modest magnitude between long-term exposure to air pollutants and CKD, with hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) per interquartile range: 1.18 (0.93-1.50) per 2.86 µg/m SIGNIFICANCE: Our study adds important new findings to the growing evidence suggesting that air pollution may be associated with CKD incidence. IMPACT STATEMENT: This study provides longitudinal evidence that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution contributes to chronic kidney disease (CKD) incidence, even in a relatively healthy occupational cohort and at comparatively low pollution levels. Although effect sizes were modest, consistent positive associations, particularly for NO