Effects of air pollution on cardiopulmonary disease in urban and peri-urban residents in Beijing

在过去的几十年里，中国不断增长的能源需求导致燃煤电厂的空气污染排放增加。它的机动化运输增长速度是世界上最快的，机动车数量预计将在未来20年翻两番，到2030年达到3.8亿辆以上。与此同时，近一半的中国人仍然用高污染的生物质和煤炭燃料做饭和取暖。由此导致的中国大多数城市的颗粒物(PM)浓度通常超过世界卫生组织(WHO)10微克/立方米的年度空气质量指南10倍或更多。在中国进行的流行病学研究越来越多地证实了糟糕的空气质量与以前在西方观察到的一系列健康风险之间的联系。此外，他们还证实，易受空气污染影响的中国人的数量正在增加，慢性非传染性疾病--如缺血性心脏病(IHD)、脑血管疾病、慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)和癌症--带来的疾病负担越来越大，这就是明证。需要进行研究，以加强对环境暴露对人类健康的影响的了解，以影响政府的污染政策和个人行为。这项建议中描述的研究成果将把我们对空气污染对人类健康影响的了解扩大到世界上最大的国家的一个特大城市，并促进循证政策，这些政策反过来可能会极大地改善中国老龄化人口的健康和生活质量-这两者都是重要的可持续发展目标。我们将与中国科学家密切合作，从北京市区和郊区招募240名受试者。受试者将从两个现有的人群队列(PRC-USA和INTERMAP)中招募，以确保有丰富的基线数据来源和储存的样本供查阅。在整个项目期间，我们将获得受试者目前的健康状况、个人暴露于空气污染的详细情况以及用于生物标记分析的生物样本的详细信息。几十年来，英国一直处于空气污染问题科学研究的核心，而中国的这类科学研究要新得多。尽管中国团队在某些领域发展了高水平的专业知识，但英国团队将提供强大的互补专业知识，特别是在个人暴露空气污染测量和生物标志物分析方面。然而，整个过程中固有的是中国的专业知识和能力、互补的英国空气质量仪器和健康专业知识的协同组合。因此，该项目将作为一个新的平台，进一步提升中国团队在大气污染及其对健康影响方面的研究能力，这将在项目生命周期之后留下遗产，从而为十多亿人的生活和福利的不断改善做出贡献。

In the last few decades China's rising energy requirements have led to increased air pollution emissions from coal-fired power plants. Its motorized transport growth is the fastest in the world with the number of motor vehicles projected to quadruple in the next two decades, reaching over 380 million by 2030. Meanwhile, nearly half of all Chinese still cook and heat their homes with highly polluting biomass and coal fuels. The resulting particulate matter (PM) concentrations in the majority of Chinese cities routinely exceed the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual Air Quality Guideline of 10 microgrammes/m3 by a factor of 10 or more. Epidemiologic studies undertaken in China increasingly confirm links between poor air quality and a range of health risks previously observed in the West. Moreover, they confirm that the number of Chinese that are vulnerable to air pollution is increasing, as evidenced by a large and growing burden of disease from chronic non-communicable diseases - such as ischemic heart disease (IHD), cerebrovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cancer. Research to enhance the understanding of the impact of environmental exposures on human health is needed to influence both government policy on pollution and also individual behaviours. The outcomes of the research described in this proposal will extend our understanding of the impact of air pollution on human health to a megacity in the world's largest country and promote evidence-based policies that in turn may greatly improve the health and quality of life of China's ageing population - both of which are important sustainable development aims.Working closely with Chinese scientists we will recruit a panel of 240 subjects from urban and peri-urban Beijing. Subjects will be recruited from two existing populations cohorts (PRC-USA and INTERMAP) ensuring a rich source of baseline data and stored samples for access. Across the project period we will obtain detailed information on the current health status of the subjects, details of the personal exposure to air pollution and biosamples for biomarker analysis. The UK has been at the heart of the scientific study of air pollution issues over many decades, whereas such scientific studies are much newer in China. Although the Chinese teams have developed a high level of expertise in some areas, the UK team will provide strong complementary expertise, in particular in personal exposure air pollution measurements and biomarker analysis. Inherent throughout however is the synergistic combination of Chinese expertise and capability, complementary UK air quality instrumentation and health expertise. Therefore, this project will serve as a new platform to further enhance the research capacity of the Chinese teams in air pollution and its impact on health, which will leave a legacy beyond the project lifetime, thus contributing to the continuous improvement of life and welfare of more than a billion people.