Tropospheric formaldehyde levels infer ambient formaldehyde-induced brain diseases and global burden in China, 2013–2019

Although air pollutions cause human diseases, no epidemiological study has investigated the effect of exposure to air pollutants on brain diseases in the general population. Our objective was to examine the association between tropospheric airborne pollutants and human health risk and global burden, especially, attributable to indoor formaldehyde (FA) pollution in China. The data of tropospheric pollutants, such as: CO, NO, O3, PM2.5 or PM10, SO2, and FA in China, 2013-2019, which were derived from the database of satellite remote-sensing, were first calculated and then analyzed them according to satellite cloud pictures. The rate of prevalence, incidence, deaths, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) of the Chinese population was obtained from the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD 2010). A linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between tropospheric FA concentrations and GBD indexes of human brain diseases, the numbers of fire plot, the average summer temperature, population density and car sales in China from 2013 to 2019. Our results showed that the levels of tropospheric FA could reflect the degree of indoor air FA pollution on a nationwide scale in China; in particular, only tropospheric FA exhibited a positive correlation with the rates of both prevalence and YLDs in brain diseases including: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and brain cancer, but not in Parkinson's disease and depression. In particular, the spatial-temporal changes in tropospheric FA levels were consistent with the geographical distribution of FA exposure-induced AD and brain cancer in both sex old adults with age (60-89). In addition, summer average temperature, car sales and population density were positively correlated with tropospheric FA levels in China, 2013-2019. Hence, mapping of tropospheric pollutants could be used for air quality monitoring and health risk assessment.