Abstract
Background/Aim: Several studies have found associations between increases in QT interval length, a marker of cardiac electrical instability, and short-term fine particulate matter (PM2.5). To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the association between specific PM metal components and QT interval length. Methods: We measured heart-rate corrected QT interval (QTc) duration among 630 participants in the Normative Aging Cohort (NAS) based in Eastern Massachusetts between 2000 to 2012. We utilized time-varying linear mixed-effects regressions with a random intercept to analyze associations between QTc interval and moving averages (0 to 7-day moving averages) of 24-hour mean concentrations of PM metal components (vanadium, nickel, copper, zinc and lead) measured at the Harvard Supersite monitoring station. Models were adjusted for daily PM2.5 mass estimated at a 1 km x 1 km grid cell from a previously validated prediction model and other covariates. Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) was utilized to assess the overall effect of the PM components and the exposure-dose response curves. Results: We found consistent results with higher lead (Pb) associated with significant higher QTc intervals for both the multi-pollutant and the two pollutant (PM2.5 and a PM component) models across the moving averages. The greatest effect of lead on QTc interval was detected for the 4-day moving average lead exposure. In the multi-pollutant model, each 2.72 ng/m3 increase in daily lead levels for a 4-day moving average was associated with an 8.77 ms (95% CI: 4.25,13.29) increase in QTc interval. In the two-pollutant models with PM2.5 mass and lead, each 2.72 ng/m3 increase in daily lead levels for a 4-day moving average was associated with a 9.19 ms (95% CI: 5.09,13.30) increase in QTc interval. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that metals contained in PM2.5 are associated with acute changes (0 to 7-day moving averages) in ventricular repolarization.
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