Recent
studies found the intrusion and retention of exogenous fine
particles into joints, but epidemiological data for long- and intermediate-term
exposure associations are scare. Here, all urban working, retired
employee, and rural residents (16.78 million) in Beijing from January
1, 2011 to December 31, 2019 were included to investigate the effects
of long- and intermediate-term ambient particulate exposure on development
of osteoarthritis. We identified 1,742,067 participants as first-visit
patients with osteoarthritis. For each interquartile range increase
in annual PM2.5 (23.32 μg/m3) and PM10 (23.92 μg/m3) exposure concentration, the
pooled hazard ratios were respectively 1.238 (95% CI: 1.228, 1.249)
and 1.178 (95% CI: 1.168, 1.189) for first osteoarthritis outpatient
visits. Moreover, age at first osteoarthritis outpatient visits significantly
decreased by 4.52 (95% CI: 3.45 to 5.40) days per μg/m3 for annual PM2.5 exposure at below 67.85 μg/m3. Finally, among the six constituents analyzed, black carbon
appears to be the most important component associated with the association
between PM2.5 exposure and the three osteoarthritis-related
outcomes.