A recent epidemiological study reported that there was a direct link between airborne particulate matter exposure and extrinsic skin aging in German women. In the present study, we assessed the influence of indoor air pollution from cooking with coal or biomass on skin aging in Chinese women from Taizhou, which sat at the junction of north and south of China. We recruited 857 Chinese women ranging in the age from 28 to 90 years old, and evaluated their skin aging symptoms by means of the SCINEXATM (score of intrinsic and extrinsic skin aging), a validated skin aging score. The impact of indoor air pollution on skin aging was analyzed by linear and logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounding factors, like smoking, sun exposure, BMI, education and etc. Indoor air pollution by cooking fuels was significantly correlated to an increased: wrinkles on forehead (p<0.001), wrinkles in the crow’s feet area (p=0.001), wrinkles on upper lip (p=0.036), nasolabial fold (p<0.001), laxity of eyelids (p=0.007), laxity of cheeks (p=0.019) and fine wrinkles on back of hands (p=0.027). In previous research, we found adverse effects of air pollutants on skin aging, in particular to pigment spots and less pronounced to wrinkles in German women. However, we did not observe the significant association between air pollution and the development of pigment spots on face in Chinese women from Taizhou. It seemed that other risk factors than indoor air pollution or gene-indoor air pollution interactions might be significant determinant of pigment spots on face in Chinese women. Overall, these results indicated that indoor air pollution might affect skin aging as well.
A recent epidemiological study reported that there was a direct link between airborne particulate matter exposure and extrinsic skin aging in German women. In the present study, we assessed the influence of indoor air pollution from cooking with coal or biomass on skin aging in Chinese women from Taizhou, which sat at the junction of north and south of China. We recruited 857 Chinese women ranging in the age from 28 to 90 years old, and evaluated their skin aging symptoms by means of the SCINEXATM (score of intrinsic and extrinsic skin aging), a validated skin aging score. The impact of indoor air pollution on skin aging was analyzed by linear and logistic regression and adjusted for potential confounding factors, like smoking, sun exposure, BMI, education and etc. Indoor air pollution by cooking fuels was significantly correlated to an increased: wrinkles on forehead (p<0.001), wrinkles in the crow’s feet area (p=0.001), wrinkles on upper lip (p=0.036), nasolabial fold (p<0.001), laxity of eyelids (p=0.007), laxity of cheeks (p=0.019) and fine wrinkles on back of hands (p=0.027). In previous research, we found adverse effects of air pollutants on skin aging, in particular to pigment spots and less pronounced to wrinkles in German women. However, we did not observe the significant association between air pollution and the development of pigment spots on face in Chinese women from Taizhou. It seemed that other risk factors than indoor air pollution or gene-indoor air pollution interactions might be significant determinant of pigment spots on face in Chinese women. Overall, these results indicated that indoor air pollution might affect skin aging as well.
Key words: skin aging, wrinkle, pigment spots, indoor air pollution, ethnic difference