Table 2 Characteristics of the population and PM sampling methods of each included study
Study | Mariani et al. [37] | Mariani et al. [14] | Lin et al. [38] | Li et al. [39] | Qin et al. [34] | Zhao et al. [32] | Zhao et al. [10] | Du et al. [36] | Li et al. [26] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Study population | Adult subjects | Allergic rhinitis and Healthy aldult subjects | Adult subjects | Adult subjects | Adult subjects | Adult subjects | Adult subjects with asthma | Adult subjects | Adult subjects |
Country | Italy | Italy | China | China | China | China | China | China | China |
PM Exposure Group | Low | Low | Low | High | High | Low/High | High | Low/High | High |
PM sampling duration | 7Â days | 7Â days | 2Â months | 2Â years | 3Â days | 30Â days | 30Â days | 2Â months | 3Â months |
Sampling season | Winter | Spring | Summer/Fall | Winter | Winter | Spring | Winter | Fall | Fall |
Exposure assesment | (1) Personal cascade impactor sampler (2) Chemical Transport Model (3) fixed monitoring stations | Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPA Lombardy) | GRIMM Aerosol Technik Ainring (located in a roofed building within 200 m of participants’ dormitories) | Thermo5030 SHARP | Official air quality forecast | Open Environment Data Center of China | Open Environment Data Centre of China | Online platform for air quality monitoring (aqistudy) | Tisch Environmental TE-6070 (located on the rooftop of campus building) |
Swab location | Nasal | Nasal | Oral | Throat | Nasopharyngeal | Nasopharyngeal | Oropharyngeal | Oral (wash) | Nasal (wash) |
Research design | Cross-sectional | Cross-sectional | Longitudinal | Cross-sectional | Longitudinal | Longitudinal | Cross-sectional | Longitudinal | Longitudinal |
Female | 23 (57.5%) | 24 (48.0%) | 30 (75.0%) | 61 (53.5%) | 44 (53.0%) | 3 (37.5%) | 16 (72.0%) | 11 (52.38%) | 48 (70.6%) |
Age (SD) | 48.6 ± 8.4 | 41.0 ± 14.6 | 24.0 ± 1.5 | 19.9 ± 0.4 | 39.2 ± 11.5 | 21.9 ± 0.35 | 53.9 ± 9.6 | 26.8 ± 6.7 | 18.62 ± 0.71 |