Publications by authors named "Joachim Heinrich"

Background: Exposure to residential greenness has been linked with improved sleep duration; however, longitudinal evidence is limited, and the potential mediating effect of ambient fine particulate matter (PM) has yet to be assessed.

Methods: We obtained data for 19,567 participants across seven counties in a prospective cohort in Ningbo, China. Greenness was estimated using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) within 250-m, 500-m and 1000-m buffer zones, while yearly average PM concentrations were measured using validated land-use regression models, both based on individual residential addresses.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study aimed to explore the impact of nearby birch trees and other allergenic trees on lung function in adults, considering that earlier research on greenspace effects produced mixed results, possibly influenced by tree pollen allergies.
  • - Analyzed data from 874 adults aged 20-44 years, researchers used lung function tests and various tree classification methods, revealing that more birch trees near homes were linked to reduced lung function metrics (FEV and FVC) despite controlling for other factors.
  • - The findings suggest a detrimental long-term effect of living near birch trees on lung health, although the limitation of only counting public street trees restricted a deeper understanding of how these trees might confound greenspace benefits.
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Evidence on the link of long-term exposure to ozone (O) with childhood asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis and eczema is inconclusive. We did a population-based cross-sectional survey, including 177,888 children from 173 primary and middle schools in 14 Chinese cities. A satellite-based spatiotemporal model was employed to assess four-year average O exposure at both residential and school locations.

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Background: Green space is an important part of the human living environment, with many epidemiological studies estimating its impact on human health. However, no study has quantitatively assessed the credibility of the existing evidence, impeding their translations into policy decisions and hindering researchers from identifying new research gaps. This overview aims to evaluate and rank such evidence credibility.

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Evidence regarding the link between long-term ambient ozone (O) exposure and childhood sleep disorders is little. This study aims to examine the associations between long-term exposure to O and sleep disorders in children. We conducted a population-based cross-sectional survey, including 185,428 children aged 6-18 years in 173 schools across 14 Chinese cities during 2012 and 2018.

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Objectives: Evidence on the link between long-term ambient particulate matter (PM) exposures and childhood sleep disorders were scarce. We examined the associations between long-term exposures to PM and PM (PM with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter <2.5 μm and <1 μm, respectively) with sleep disorders in children.

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Background: Prolonged exposure to air pollution has been linked to adverse respiratory health, yet the evidence concerning its association with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is inconsistent. The evidence of a greenness effect on chronic respiratory diseases is limited.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association between long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM and PM), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O) and greenness (as measured by the normalized difference vegetation index - NDVI) and incidence of self-reported chronic bronchitis or COPD (CB/COPD).

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Background: Potential effect of greenspace exposure on human microbiota have been explored by a number of observational and interventional studies, but the results remained mixed. We comprehensively synthesized these studies by performing a systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Methods: Comprehensive literature searches in three international databases (PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science) and three Chinese databases (China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and China Biology Medicine disc) were conducted from inception to November 1, 2023.

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Objectives: To explore the relationship between physical activity over a 10-year period and current symptoms of insomnia, daytime sleepiness and estimated sleep duration in adults aged 39-67.

Design: Population-based, multicentre cohort study.

Setting: 21 centres in nine European countries.

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Background: Gas cooking is an important source of indoor air pollutants, and there is some limited evidence that it might adversely be associated with respiratory health. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the multi-centre international European Community Respiratory Health Survey, we assessed whether adults using gas cookers have increased risk of respiratory symptoms compared to those using electric cookers and tested whether there was effect modification by a priori selected factors.

Methods: Data on respiratory symptoms and gas cooking were collected from participants at 26-55 and 38-67 years (median time between examinations 11.

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Background: We aimed to assess whether exposure to risk factors in early life from conception to puberty continue to contribute to lung function decline later in life by using a pooled cohort comprising approx. 11,000 adults followed for more than 20 years and with up to three lung function measurements.

Methods: Participants (20-68 years) in the ECRHS and NFBC1966 cohort studies followed in the periods 1991-2013 and 1997-2013, respectively, were included.

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Background: Evidence suggests that maternal exposure to heat might increase the risk of preterm birth (PTB), but no study has investigated the effect from urban heat island (UHI) at individual level.

Aims: Our study aimed to investigate the association between individual UHI exposure and PTB.

Methods: We utilized data from the ongoing China Birth Cohort Study (CBCS), encompassing 103,040 birth records up to December 2020.

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Information on the spatio-temporal patterns of the burden of ischemic heart disease (IHD) caused by ambient ambient fine particulate matter (PM) in the global level is needed to prioritize the control of ambient air pollution and prevent the burden of IHD. The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2019 provides data on IHD attributable to ambient PM. The IHD burden and mortality attributable to ambient PM were analyzed by year, age, gender, socio-demographic index (SDI) level, geographical region and country.

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Objective: This study aimed to identify sleep clusters based on objective multidimensional sleep characteristics and test their associations with adolescent cardiometabolic health.

Methods: The authors included 1090 participants aged 14.3 to 16.

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Background: Air pollution has been linked to mortality, but there are few studies examining the association with different exposure time windows spanning across several decades. The evidence for the effects of green space and mortality is contradictory.

Objective: We investigated all-cause mortality in relation to exposure to particulate matter (PM and PM), black carbon (BC), nitrogen dioxide (NO), ozone (O) and greenness (normalized difference vegetation index - NDVI) across different exposure time windows.

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Fraction of exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) is a marker of airway inflammation. We examined the main effects and interactions of relative humidity (RH) and air pollution on adolescents' FeNO. Two thousand and forty-two participants from the 15-year follow-up of the German GINIplus and LISA birth cohorts were included.

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There is limited information describing the course and severity of illness in subjects infected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 Omicron variant, especially in children. In this population-based cohort study, subjects with Omicron variant infection during the outbreak between January 8 and February 12, 2022 in Tianjin, China were included (n = 429). The main outcomes were the distribution of asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe patients, and clinical courses including the interval from positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to the onset, aggravation or relief of symptoms, and the interval of reversing positive PCR-test into negative, and length of hospital stay.

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Background: While the adverse effects of short-term ambient ozone exposure on lung function are well-documented, the impact of long-term exposure remains poorly understood, especially in adults.

Methods: We aimed to investigate the association between long-term ozone exposure and lung function decline. The 3014 participants were drawn from 17 centers across eight countries, all of which were from the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS).

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Background: Inflammatory processes have been suggested as a culprit of vascular damage in pediatric hypertension. We aimed to investigate transcriptional changes of immune modulators and determine their association with office blood pressure in adolescents who were not diagnosed with hypertension at the time of the study visit.

Methods: Office blood pressure measurements and blood samples were taken from adolescents of 2 German birth cohorts, GINIplus (The German Infant Study on the Influence of Nutrition Intervention Plus Air Pollution and Genetics on Allergy Development; discovery cohort, n=1219) and LISA (Influences of Lifestyle-related factors on the Immune System and the Development of Allergies in Childhood; validation cohort, n=809), during the 15-year follow-up visit and categorized based on the European Society of Hypertension Guideline.

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Background: Greenness, referring to a measurement of the density of vegetated land (e.g., gardens, parks, grasslands), has been linked with many human health outcomes.

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We simultaneously assessed the associations for a range of outdoor environmental exposures with prevalent tuberculosis (TB) cases in a population-based health program with 1940,622 participants ≥ 15 years of age. TB status was confirmed through bacteriological and clinical assessment. We measured 14 outdoor environmental exposures at residential addresses.

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Background: Evidence on the associations between long-term exposure to multiple air pollutants and cardiopulmonary mortality is limited, especially for developing regions with higher pollutant levels. We aimed to characterise the individual and joint (multi-pollutant) associations of long-term exposure to air pollutants with cardiopulmonary mortality, and to identify air pollutant that primarily contributes to the mortality risk.

Methods: We followed 37,442 participants with a mean age of 43.

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Hyperglycemia is a key risk factor for death and disability worldwide. To better inform prevention strategies, we aimed to delineate and predict the temporal, spatial, and demographic patterns in mean fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels and their related disease burden globally. Based on the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019, we estimated the distributions of mean FPG levels and high FPG-related disease burden by age, sex, year, socioeconomic status (SES), and geographical region from 1990 to 2050.

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A previous follow-up of the GINIplus study showed that breastfeeding could protect against early eczema. However, effects diminished in adolescence, possibly indicating a "rebound effect" in breastfed children after initial protection. We evaluated the role of early eczema until three years of age on allergies until young adulthood and assessed whether early eczema modifies the association between breastfeeding and allergies.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the link between residential greenspace and lung function decline over 20 years in 5,559 adults across 11 countries, revealing conflicting prior research results.
  • It measured lung function at three different ages and assessed greenspace using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), considering various green space types around residential areas.
  • The findings indicated that increased greenspace, particularly within 500 meters, correlates with a faster decline in lung function, especially in females and individuals in low air pollution areas, challenging the assumption that more greenspace equals better lung health.
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