TY - JOUR
T1 - Air pollution exposure and lung function in highly exposed subjects in Beijing, China
T2 - A repeated-measure study
AU - Baccarelli, Andrea A.
AU - Zheng, Yinan
AU - Zhang, Xiao
AU - Chang, Dou
AU - Liu, Lei
AU - Wolf, Katherine R.
AU - Zhang, Zhou
AU - McCracken, John P.
AU - Díaz, Anaité
AU - Bertazzi, Pier A.
AU - Schwartz, Joel
AU - Wang, Sheng
AU - Kang, Choong Min
AU - Koutrakis, Petros
AU - Hou, Lifang
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences awards, ES000002, 1R21ES020010, R21ES020984, and R01ES021733. The XRF laboratory at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) has been supported by the Harvard EPA Center (RD 83479801).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Baccarelli et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
PY - 2014/10/2
Y1 - 2014/10/2
N2 - Background: Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with reduced lung function. Elemental components of PM have been suggested to have critical roles in PM toxicity, but their contribution to respiratory effects remains under-investigated. We evaluated the effects of traffic-related PM2.5 and its elemental components on lung function in two highly exposed groups of healthy adults in Beijing, China.Methods: The Beijing Truck Driver Air Pollution Study (BTDAS) included 60 truck drivers and 60 office workers evaluated in 2008. On two days separated by 1-2 weeks, we measured lung function at the end of the work day, personal PM2.5, and nine elemental components of PM2.5 during eight hours of work, i.e., elemental carbon (EC), potassium (K), sulfur (S), iron (Fe), silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), and titanium (Ti). We used covariate-adjusted mixed-effects models including PM2.5 as a covariate to estimate the percentage change in lung function associated with an inter-quartile range (IQR) exposure increase.Results: The two groups had high and overlapping exposure distributions with mean personal PM2.5 of 94.6 μg/m3 (IQR: 48.5-126.6) in office workers and 126.8 μg/m3 (IQR: 73.9-160.5) in truck drivers. The distributions of the nine elements showed group-specific profiles and generally higher levels in truck drivers. In all subjects combined, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) did not significantly correlate with PM2.5. However, FEV1 showed negative associations with concentrations of four elements: Si (-3.07%, 95% CI: -5.00; -1.11, IQR: 1.54), Al (-2.88%, 95% CI: -4.91; -0.81, IQR: 0.86), Ca (-1.86%, 95% CI: -2.95; -0.76, IQR: 1.33), and Ti (-2.58%, 95% CI: -4.44; -0.68, IQR: 0.03), and FVC showed negative associations with concentrations of three elements: Si (-3.23%, 95% CI: -5.61; -0.79), Al (-3.26%, 95% CI: -5.73; -0.72), and Ca (-1.86%, 95% CI: -3.23; -0.47). In stratified analysis, Si, Al, Ca, and Ti showed associations with lung function only among truck drivers, and no significant association among office workers.Conclusion: Selected elemental components of PM2.5 showed effects on lung function that were not found in analyses of particle levels alone.
AB - Background: Exposure to ambient particulate matter (PM) has been associated with reduced lung function. Elemental components of PM have been suggested to have critical roles in PM toxicity, but their contribution to respiratory effects remains under-investigated. We evaluated the effects of traffic-related PM2.5 and its elemental components on lung function in two highly exposed groups of healthy adults in Beijing, China.Methods: The Beijing Truck Driver Air Pollution Study (BTDAS) included 60 truck drivers and 60 office workers evaluated in 2008. On two days separated by 1-2 weeks, we measured lung function at the end of the work day, personal PM2.5, and nine elemental components of PM2.5 during eight hours of work, i.e., elemental carbon (EC), potassium (K), sulfur (S), iron (Fe), silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), zinc (Zn), calcium (Ca), and titanium (Ti). We used covariate-adjusted mixed-effects models including PM2.5 as a covariate to estimate the percentage change in lung function associated with an inter-quartile range (IQR) exposure increase.Results: The two groups had high and overlapping exposure distributions with mean personal PM2.5 of 94.6 μg/m3 (IQR: 48.5-126.6) in office workers and 126.8 μg/m3 (IQR: 73.9-160.5) in truck drivers. The distributions of the nine elements showed group-specific profiles and generally higher levels in truck drivers. In all subjects combined, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) did not significantly correlate with PM2.5. However, FEV1 showed negative associations with concentrations of four elements: Si (-3.07%, 95% CI: -5.00; -1.11, IQR: 1.54), Al (-2.88%, 95% CI: -4.91; -0.81, IQR: 0.86), Ca (-1.86%, 95% CI: -2.95; -0.76, IQR: 1.33), and Ti (-2.58%, 95% CI: -4.44; -0.68, IQR: 0.03), and FVC showed negative associations with concentrations of three elements: Si (-3.23%, 95% CI: -5.61; -0.79), Al (-3.26%, 95% CI: -5.73; -0.72), and Ca (-1.86%, 95% CI: -3.23; -0.47). In stratified analysis, Si, Al, Ca, and Ti showed associations with lung function only among truck drivers, and no significant association among office workers.Conclusion: Selected elemental components of PM2.5 showed effects on lung function that were not found in analyses of particle levels alone.
KW - FEV1
KW - FVC
KW - Lung function
KW - Metals
KW - Particulate matter
KW - Traffic exposure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84907953490&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/s12989-014-0051-7
DO - 10.1186/s12989-014-0051-7
M3 - Article
C2 - 25272992
AN - SCOPUS:84907953490
SN - 1743-8977
VL - 11
JO - Particle and Fibre Toxicology
JF - Particle and Fibre Toxicology
IS - 1
M1 - 51
ER -