Effects of air pollutant exposure on lung function in exercisers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

P. Shi, C.Y. Li, J.Y. Sun

School of Physical Education and Sports Training, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China. 1658585524@qq.com

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• Public Health
• Sports Medicine

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to systematically evaluate the effect of air pollutant exposure on lung function in exercisers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Computer search Web of Science, PubMed, EBSCO and Cochrane Library, MINORS scale for literature quality evaluation, and Stata 12.0 software for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: According to the literature inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 14 pieces of literature were screened and included in the Meta-analysis, and the literature quality was relatively high. Meta-analysis shows that air pollutant exposure has no significant effect on FVC, FEV1 and PEF of exercisers (p>0.05); but it can significantly increase the FeNO level of exercisers [Z=2.26, p = 0.024, SMD=-0.228, 95% CI= (-0.426, -0.031)]. Egger linear regression analysis shows that FVC [β=-4.64, p = 0.004, 95% CI= (-7.32,-1.95)] has the possibility of publication bias; FEV1, PEF and FeNO p>0.05 and 95% CI contains 0, there is no publication bias in the included literature. There is no sensitivity problem in the included literature, and the combined result is robust and reliable.

CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to air pollutants may cause allergic airway inflammation by increasing FeNO levels in exercised populations, and adversely affecting human health.

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