The increasing prevalence of precocious puberty (PP) has emerged as a significant medical and social problem worldwide. However, research on the relationship between long-term air pollution exposure and PP has been relatively limited. We thus investigated the association between long-term air pollution exposure and the onset of PP in South Korea. We investigated a retrospective cohort using the Korea National Health Insurance Database. Six-year-old children born from 2007 to 2009 were examined (2013–2015). We included boys ≤10 years and girls aged ≤9 years who visited hospitals for early pubertal development, were diagnosed with PP per the ICD-10 (E228, E301, and E309), and received gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment. We analyzed data for boys up until 10 years old (60-month follow-up) and for girls up to 9 years old (48-month follow-up). We assessed the association between long-term air pollution exposure and the onset of PP using a Cox proportional hazard model. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) per 1 μg/m increase in fine particulate matter (PM) and particulate matter (PM) and per 1 ppb increase in sulfur dioxide (SO), nitrogen dioxide (NO), and ozone (O). This study included 1,205,784 children aged six years old between 2013 and 2015. A positive association was found between the 48-month moving average PM (HR: 1.019; 95% CI: 1.012, 1.027), PM (HR: 1.009; 95% CI: 1.006, 1.013), SO (HR: 1.037; 95% CI: 1.018, 1.055), and O (HR: 1.006; 95% CI: 1.001, 1.010) exposure and PP in girls but not boys. This study provides valuable insights into the harmful effects of air pollution during childhood and adolescence, emphasizing that air pollution is a risk factor that should be managed and reduced.

中文翻译：

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韩国长期接触空气污染与性早熟

性早熟（PP）的日益流行已成为世界范围内的一个重大医学和社会问题。然而，关于长期空气污染暴露与PP之间关系的研究相对有限。因此，我们调查了韩国长期空气污染暴露与 PP 发病之间的关联。我们使用韩国国民健康保险数据库对一项回顾性队列进行了调查。对2007年至2009年出生的六岁儿童进行了检查（2013年至2015年）。我们纳入了 10 岁以下的男孩和 9 岁以下的女孩，他们因青春期早期发育而到医院就诊，根据 ICD-10（E228、E301 和 E309）被诊断为 PP，并接受促性腺激素释放激素激动剂治疗。我们分析了 10 岁以下男孩（60 个月的随访）和 9 岁以下女孩（48 个月的随访）的数据。我们使用 Cox 比例风险模型评估了长期空气污染暴露与 PP 发病之间的关联。我们估计了细颗粒物 (PM) 和颗粒物 (PM) 每增加 1 µg/m 以及二氧化硫 (SO)、二氧化氮 (NO) 每增加 1 ppb 的风险比 (HR) 和 95% 置信区间 (CI) ）和臭氧（O）。这项研究包括 2013 年至 2015 年间 1,205,784 名 6 岁儿童。发现 48 个月移动平均 PM（HR：1.019；95% CI：1.012、1.027）与 PM（HR：1.009；95% CI）之间存在正相关关系：1.006, 1.013)、SO (HR: 1.037; 95% CI: 1.018, 1.055) 和 O (HR: 1.006; 95% CI: 1.001, 1.010) 女孩的暴露和 PP，但男孩没有。这项研究为儿童和青少年时期空气污染的有害影响提供了宝贵的见解，强调空气污染是一个应该管理和减少的风险因素。