Browsing by Author "Chuang, Shu-Chun"

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Long-term ambient hydrocarbons exposure and incidence of ischemic stroke
(2019-12-04)
Zhang, Han-Wei
;
Kok, Victor C.
;
Chuang, Shu-Chun
;
Tseng, Chun-Hung
;
Lin, Chin-Teng
Exposure to air pollutants is known to have adverse effects on human health; however, little is known about the association between hydrocarbons in air and an ischemic stroke (IS) event. We investigated whether long-term exposure to airborne hydrocarbons, including volatile organic compounds, increased IS risk. This retrospective cohort study included 283,666 people aged 40 years or older in Taiwan. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to fit single- and multiple-pollutant models for two targeted pollutants, total hydrocarbons (THC) and nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), and estimated the risk of IS. Before controlling for multiple pollutants, hazard ratios (HRs) of IS with 95% confidence intervals for the overall population were 2.69 (2.64-2.74) at 0.16-ppm increase in THC and 1.62 (1.59-1.66) at 0.11-ppm increase in NMHC. For the multiple-pollutant models controlling for PM2.5, the adjusted HR was 3.64 (3.56-3.72) for THC and 2.21 (2.16-2.26) for NMHC. Our findings suggest that long-term exposure to THC and NMHC may be a risk factor for IS development.
Long-Term Exposure to Ambient Hydrocarbons Increases Dementia Risk in People Aged 50 Years and above in Taiwan
(2019-01-01)
Zhang, Han-Wei
;
Kok, Victor C.
;
Chuang, Shu-Chun
;
Tseng, Chun-Hung
;
Lin, Chin-Teng
Background: Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia among the elderly, is a progressive and irreversible neurodegenerative disease. Exposure to air pollutants is known to have adverse effects on human health, however, little is known about hydrocarbons in the air that can trigger a dementia event. Objective: We aimed to investigate whether long-term exposure to airborne hydrocarbons increases the risk of developing dementia. Method: The present cohort study included 178,085 people aged 50 years and older in Taiwan. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to fit the multiple pollutant models for two targeted pollutants, including total hydrocarbons and non-methane hydrocarbons, and estimated the risk of dementia. Results: Before controlling for multiple pollutants, hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for the overall population were 7.63 (7.28-7.99, p <0.001) at a 0.51 -ppm increases in total hydrocarbons, and 2.94 (2.82-3.05, p <0.001) at a 0.32-ppm increases in non-methane hydrocarbons. The highest adjusted hazard ratios for different multiple-pollutant models of each targeted pollutant were statistically significant (p <0.001) for all patients: 11.52 (10.86-12.24) for total hydrocarbons and 9.73 (9.18-10.32) for non-methane hydrocarbons. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that total hydrocarbons and non-methane hydrocarbons may be contributing to dementia development.