Data from: The association between Vapor Pressure Deficit and arthritis: Evidence from a 10-year longitudinal study of middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults

Objective: To investigate the association between vapor pressure deficit
(VPD) and arthritis in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Methods: This
study utilized data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal
Survey (CHARLS) spanning the years 2011 to 2020. Participants without
arthritis in 2011 were selected as the study population, with VPD
designated as the primary exposure factor and newly diagnosed arthritis
cases as the outcome variable. Logistic regression models were used to
estimate the association between VPD and incident arthritis. Restricted
cubic spline (RCS) analyses were conducted to assess potential
nonlinearity. Subgroup analyses were performed to examine effect
heterogeneity across population subgroups. Results: A total of 4615
subjects were included, and a total of 1317 subjects were reported to be
diagnosed with arthritis during approximately 10 years of follow-up
(2011–2020). The VPD level in the arthritis group was lower than that in
the non-arthritis group (5.184 ± 0.828 vs 5.291 ± 0.818, p<0.001).
All logistic regression models showed that VPD was linearly related to the
incidence of arthritis, and the relationship remained consistent even when
VPD was categorized. RCS analysis showed that the incidence of arthritis
decreased significantly with increasing VPD (p<0.05), especially
when VPD was lower than 5.28. Subgroup analysis indicated that VPD exerted
a stronger protective effect against arthritis among rural residents (p
for interaction = 0.006). Conclusion: VPD was found to be negatively
associated with the incidence of arthritis among middle-aged and elderly
populations, with a particularly stronger effect observed in rural
residents. These findings highlight VPD as an environmental factor
associated with arthritis and may help improve understanding of
environmental influences on arthritis development.