Abstract
BackgroundMany epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollutants have been carried out in regions with major sources such as factories and automobiles. However, the health effects of air pollutants in regions without major sources remain unclear. This study investigated the acute effects of ambient air pollution on pulmonary function among healthy students in an isolated island without major artificial sources of air pollutants.MethodsA panel study was conducted of 43 healthy subjects who attended a school in an isolated island in the Seto Inland Sea, Japan. We measured the forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and peak expiratory flow (PEF) every morning for about 1 month in May 2014. Ambient concentrations of particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5), particulate matter between 2.5 and 10 μm in diameter (PM10-2.5), black carbon (BC), ozone (O3), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were measured. The associations between the concentrations of air pollutants and pulmonary function were analyzed using mixed-effects models.ResultsA decrease in FEV1 was significantly associated with BC concentrations (−27.28 mL [95%confidence interval (CI):−54.10,−0.46] for an interquartile range (IQR) increase of 0.23 μg/m3). The decrease in PEF was significantly associated with indoor O3 concentrations (−8.03 L/min [95% CI:−13.02,−3.03] for an IQR increase of 11 ppb). Among subjects with a history of allergy, an increase in PM2.5 concentrations was significantly associated with low FEV1. In subjects with a history of asthma, an inverse association between the indoor O3 concentration and pulmonary function was observed.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that increases in BC and O3 concentrations have acute effects on the pulmonary function among students in an isolated island without major artificial sources of air pollutants.
Highlights
Many epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollutants have been carried out in regions with major sources such as factories and automobiles
It is known that exposure to black carbon (BC), a component of PM2.5, impairs the lung function in children [12]
Even in an isolated island without artificial sources of air pollutants, there were changes in the atmospheric concentrations of air pollutants, indicating that changes in the concentration of BC have an acute influence on the pulmonary function in healthy students
Summary
Many epidemiological studies on the health effects of air pollutants have been carried out in regions with major sources such as factories and automobiles. The health effects of air pollutants in regions without major sources remain unclear. This study investigated the acute effects of ambient air pollution on pulmonary function among healthy students in an isolated island without major artificial sources of air pollutants. Many studies involving patients with respiratory diseases, such as asthma [13,14,15] and chronic obstructive pulmonary. The results of studies among patients with specific diseases or epidemiological studies in areas with a high concentration of air pollutatnts are not always adaptable for a general population. Few epidemiological studies have evaluated the health effects of changes in the concentration of air pollutants in an environment. The duration of indoor daily activities is longer than that of outdoor activities; when concentrations at monitoring stations in the neighborhood were used, exposure assessment may not have been accurately performed
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