Publications
15 results found
Wood D, Evangelopoulos D, Beevers S, et al., 2024, Exposure to ambient air pollution and cognitive function: an analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort, Environmental Health, ISSN: 1832-3367
Lim S, Said B, Zurba L, et al., 2024, Characterising sources of PM2·5 exposure for school children with asthma: a personal exposure study across six cities in sub-Saharan Africa., Lancet Child Adolesc Health, Vol: 8, Pages: 17-27
BACKGROUND: Air pollution is the second largest risk to health in Africa, and children with asthma are particularly susceptible to its effects. Yet, there is a scarcity of air pollution exposure data from cities in sub-Saharan Africa. We aimed to identify potential exposure reduction strategies for school children with asthma living in urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: This personal exposure study was part of the Achieving Control of Asthma in Children in Africa (ACACIA) project. Personal exposure to particulate matter (PM) was monitored in school children in six cities in sub-Saharan Africa (Blantyre, Malawi; Durban, South Africa; Harare, Zimbabwe; Kumasi, Ghana; Lagos, Nigeria; and Moshi, Tanzania). Participants were selected if they were aged 12-16 years and had symptoms of asthma. Monitoring was conducted between June 21, and Nov 26, 2021, from Monday morning (approximately 1000 h) to Friday morning (approximately 1000 h), by use of a bespoke backpack with a small air pollution monitoring unit with an inbuilt Global Positioning System (GPS) data logger. Children filled in a questionnaire detailing potential sources of air pollution during monitoring and exposures were tagged into three different microenvironments (school, commute, and home) with GPS coordinates. Mixed-effects models were used to identify the most important determinants of children's PM2·5 (PM <2·5 μm in diameter) exposure. FINDINGS: 330 children were recruited across 43 schools; of these, 297 had valid monitoring data, and 1109 days of valid data were analysed. Only 227 (20%) of 1109 days monitored were lower than the current WHO 24 h PM2·5 exposure health guideline of 15 μg/m3. Children in Blantyre had the highest PM2·5 exposure (median 41·8 μg/m3), whereas children in Durban (16·0 μg/m3) and Kumasi (17·9 μg/m3) recorded the lowest exposures. Children had significantly higher PM2·5 exposures at school than at ho
Lee D, Walton H, Evangelopoulos D, et al., 2023, Health impact assessment for air pollution in the presence of regional variation in effect sizes: The implications of using different meta-analytic approaches, ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION, Vol: 336, ISSN: 0269-7491
Takemura K, Yonekura S, Downey LE, et al., 2023, Impact of Body Mass Index on Survival Outcomes for Patients with Metastatic Renal Cell Carcinoma in the Immuno-oncology Era: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (vol 39, pg 62, 2022), EUROPEAN UROLOGY OPEN SCIENCE, Vol: 48, Pages: 17-17, ISSN: 2666-1691
Wood D, Evangelopoulos D, Beevers S, et al., 2022, Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and the Incidence of Dementia in the Elderly of England: The ELSA Cohort, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH, Vol: 19
Cao R, Liu W, Huang J, et al., 2022, The establishment of Air Quality Health Index in China: A comparative analysis of methodological approaches, ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH, Vol: 215, ISSN: 0013-9351
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Katsouyanni K, Evangelopoulos D, 2022, Invited Perspective: Impact of Exposure Measurement Error on Effect Estimates-An Important and Neglected Problem in Air Pollution Epidemiology, ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES, Vol: 130, ISSN: 0091-6765
Takemura K, Yonekura S, Downey LE, et al., 2022, Impact of body mass index on survival outcomes of patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in the immuno-oncology era: a systematic review and meta-analysis, European Urology Open Science, Vol: 39, Pages: 62-71, ISSN: 2666-1683
ContextBody mass index (BMI) is a useful tool for measuring body composition. It is unclear whether high BMI is a favourable indicator in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).ObjectiveTo investigate the prognostic significance of BMI in patients with mRCC treated with ICIs in a systematic review and meta-analysis.Evidence acquisitionOvid MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched in July 2021, and meta-analysis was performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement.Evidence synthesisA total of 517 nonduplicate citations were screened by title and abstract, followed by full-text screening of 57 candidate articles to determine whether each study met the eligibility criteria. Overall, a total of 2281 patients from eight studies were included in the systematic review and meta-analysis. BMI levels were compared with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) in seven and three studies, respectively. Overweight/obese BMI was significantly associated with better OS compared to normal BMI (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 0.77, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.65–0.91; p = 0.002). A similar trend was observed for PFS (aHR 0.66, 95% CI 0.44–1.00; p = 0.050). There was no statistical heterogeneity or obvious publication bias among these studies.ConclusionsThis is the first systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of BMI on survival outcomes of patients with mRCC treated with ICIs. To confirm the existence of the obesity paradox for patients with mRCC in the immuno-oncology era, high-quality clinical trials and basic research are warranted.Patient summaryWe reviewed published data on survival outcomes of 2281 patients with metastatic kidney cancer treated with immunotherapy drugs in relation to their body mass index (BMI). We found that higher BMI was associated with better survival whe
Evangelopoulos D, Katsouyanni K, Schwartz J, et al., 2021, Quantifying the short-term effects of air pollution on health in the presence of exposure measurement error: A simulation study of multi-pollutant model results, Environmental Health: A Global Access Science Source, Vol: 20, Pages: 1-13, ISSN: 1476-069X
Background: Most epidemiological studies estimate associations without considering exposure measurement error. While some studies have estimated the impact of error in single-exposure models we aimed to quantify the effect of measurement error in multi-exposure models, specifically in time-series analysis of PM2.5, NO2,and mortality using simulations, under various plausible scenarios for exposure errors. Measurement error in multi-exposure models can lead to effect transfer where the effect estimate is overestimated for the pollutant estimated with more error to the one estimated with less error. This complicates interpretation of the independent effects of different pollutants and thus the relative importance of reducing their concentrations in air pollution policy. Methods: Measurement error was defined as the difference between ambient concentrations and personal exposure from outdoor sources. Simulation inputs for error magnitude and variability were informed by the literature. Error-free exposures with their consequent health 16outcome and error-prone exposures of various error types (classical/Berkson) were generated. Bias was quantified as the relative difference in effect estimates of the error-free and error-prone exposures. Results: Mortality effect estimates were generally underestimated with greater bias observed when low ratios of the true exposure variance over the error variance were assumed (27.4% 21underestimation for NO2). Higher ratios resulted in smaller, but still substantial bias (up to 19% for both pollutants).Effect transfer was observed indicating that less precise measurements for one pollutant (NO2) yield more bias, while the co-pollutant(PM2.5) associations were found closer to the true. Interestingly, the sum of single-pollutant model effect estimates was found closer to the summed true associations than those from multi-pollutant models, due to cancelling out of confounding and measurement error bias.Conclusions: Our simulation study i
Evangelopoulos D, Chatzidiakou L, Walton H, et al., 2021, Personal exposure to air pollution and respiratory health of COPD patients in London, European Respiratory Journal, Vol: 58, ISSN: 0903-1936
Previous studies have investigated the effects of air pollution on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients using either fixed site measurements or a limited number of personal measurements, usually for one pollutant and a short time period. These limitations may introduce bias and distort the epidemiological associations as they do not account for all the potential sources or the temporal variability of pollution.We used detailed information on individuals' exposure to various pollutants measured at fine spatio-temporal scale to obtain more reliable effect estimates. A panel of 115 patients was followed up for an average continuous period of 128 days carrying a personal monitor specifically designed for this project that measured temperature, PM10, PM2.5, NO2, NO, CO and O3 at one-minute time resolution. Each patient recorded daily information on respiratory symptoms and measured peak expiratory flow (PEF). A pulmonologist combined related data to define a binary variable denoting an "exacerbation". The exposure-response associations were assessed with mixed-effects models.We found that gaseous pollutants were associated with a deterioration in patients' health. We observed an increase of 16.4% (95% confidence interval: 8.6-24.6%), 9.4% (5.4-13.6%) and 7.6% (3.0-12.4%) in the odds of exacerbation for an interquartile range increase in NO2, NO and CO respectively. Similar results were obtained for cough and sputum. O3 was found to have adverse associations with PEF and breathlessness. No association was observed between particles and any outcome.Our findings suggest that, when considering total personal exposure to air pollutants, mainly the gaseous pollutants affect COPD patients' health.
Evangelopoulos D, Perez-Velasco R, Walton H, et al., 2020, The role of burden of disease assessment in tracking progress towards achieving WHO global air quality guidelines, International Journal of Public Health, Vol: 65, Pages: 1455-1465, ISSN: 0303-8408
OBJECTIVES: More than 90% of the global population live in areas exceeding the PM2.5 air quality guidelines (AQGs). We provide an overview of the ambient PM2.5-related burden of disease (BoD) studies along with scenario analysis in the framework of the WHO AQG update on the estimated reduction in the BoD if AQGs were achieved globally. METHODS: We reviewed the literature for large-scale studies for the BoD attributed to ambient PM2.5. Moreover, we used the latest WHO statistics to calculate the BoD at current levels and the scenarios of aligning with interim targets and AQG levels. RESULTS: The most recent BoD studies (2010 onwards) share a similar methodology, but there are differences in the input data which affect the estimates for attributable deaths (2.9-8.9 million deaths annually). Moreover, we found that if AQGs were achieved, the estimated BoD would be reduced by up to 50% in total deaths worldwide. CONCLUSIONS: Understanding the BoD across countries, especially in those that do not align with the AQGs, is essential in order to inform actions to reduce air pollution globally.
Evangelopoulos D, Analitis A, Giannakopoulos C, et al., 2020, Does climatic zone of birth modify the temperature-mortality association of London inhabitants during the warm season? A time-series analysis for 2004-2013., Environmental Research, ISSN: 0013-9351
Floyd CN, Shahed F, Ukah F, et al., 2020, Acute blood pressure-lowering effects of nitrogen dioxide exposure from domestic gas cooking via elevation of plasma nitrite concentration in healthy individuals, Circulation Research, Vol: 127, Pages: 847-848, ISSN: 0009-7330
Evangelopoulos D, Katsouyanni K, Keogh RH, et al., 2020, PM2.5 and NO2 exposure errors using proxy measures, including derived personal exposure from outdoor sources: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Environment International, Vol: 137, ISSN: 0160-4120
BACKGROUND: The use of proxy exposure estimates for PM2.5 and NO2 in air pollution studies instead of personal exposures, introduces measurement error, which can produce biased epidemiological effect estimates. Most studies consider total personal exposure as the gold standard. However, when studying the effects of ambient air pollution, personal exposure from outdoor sources is the exposure of interest. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the magnitude and variability of exposure measurement error by conducting a systematic review of the differences between personal exposures from outdoor sources and the corresponding measurements for ambient concentrations in order to increase understanding of the measurement error structures of the pollutants. DATA SOURCES AND ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: We reviewed the literature (ISI Web of Science, Medline, 2000-2016) for English language studies (in any age group in any location (NO2) or Europe and North America (PM2.5)) that reported repeated measurements over time both for personal and ambient PM2.5 or NO2 concentrations. Only a few studies reported personal exposure from outdoor sources. We also collected data for infiltration factors and time-activity patterns of the individuals in order to estimate personal exposures from outdoor sources in every study. STUDY APPRAISAL AND SYNTHESIS METHODS: Studies using modelled rather than monitored exposures were excluded. Type of personal exposure monitor was assessed. Random effects meta-analysis was conducted to quantify exposure error as the mean difference between "true" and proxy measures. RESULTS: Thirty-two papers for PM2.5 and 24 for NO2 were identified. Outdoor sources were found to contribute 44% (range: 33-55%) of total personal exposure to PM2.5 and 74% (range: 57-88%) to NO2. Overall estimates of personal exposure (24-hour averages) from outdoor sources were 9.3 μg/m3 and 12.0 ppb for PM2.5 and NO2 respectively, while the corresponding difference between these expo
Samoli E, Dimakopoulou K, Evangelopoulos D, et al., 2016, Is daily exposure to ozone associated with respiratory morbidity and lung function in a representative sample of schoolchildren? Results from a panel study in Greece, JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Vol: 27, Pages: 346-351, ISSN: 1559-0631
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- Citations: 20
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