Abstract
BackgroundPrevious human exposure studies of traffic-related air pollutants have demonstrated adverse health effects in human populations by comparing areas of high and low traffic, but few studies have utilized microenvironmental monitoring of pollutants at multiple traffic locations while looking at a vast array of health endpoints in the same population. We evaluated inflammatory markers, heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure, exhaled nitric oxide, and lung function in healthy participants after exposures to varying mixtures of traffic pollutants.MethodsA repeated-measures, crossover study design was used in which 23 healthy, non-smoking adults had clinical cardiopulmonary and systemic inflammatory measurements taken prior to, immediately after, and 24 hours after intermittent walking for two hours in the summer months along three diverse roadways having unique emission characteristics. Measurements of PM2.5, PM10, black carbon (BC), elemental carbon (EC), and organic carbon (OC) were collected. Mixed effect models were used to assess changes in health effects associated with these specific pollutant classes.ResultsMinimal associations were observed with lung function measurements and the pollutants measured. Small decreases in BP measurements and rMSSD, and increases in IL-1β and the low frequency to high frequency ratio measured in HRV, were observed with increasing concentrations of PM2.5 EC.ConclusionsSmall, acute changes in cardiovascular and inflammation-related effects of microenvironmental exposures to traffic-related air pollution were observed in a group of healthy young adults. The associations were most profound with the diesel-source EC.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12940-015-0049-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Previous human exposure studies of traffic-related air pollutants have demonstrated adverse health effects in human populations by comparing areas of high and low traffic, but few studies have utilized microenvironmental monitoring of pollutants at multiple traffic locations while looking at a vast array of health endpoints in the same population
Little variability existed among the pre-exposure values at the 3 locations, with the exception of Serum amyloid A (SAA) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in which statistically significant pre-exposure values were elevated at George Washington Bridge (GWB) compared to Sterling Forest (SF) and Garden State Parkway (GSP) (Table 2)
No statistically significant differences were observed for the driving distance between the exposure sites and the homes of each participant, the walking pace during exposures, and the traffic counts at the GSP and GWB locations (Additional file 1)
Summary
Previous human exposure studies of traffic-related air pollutants have demonstrated adverse health effects in human populations by comparing areas of high and low traffic, but few studies have utilized microenvironmental monitoring of pollutants at multiple traffic locations while looking at a vast array of health endpoints in the same population. Mirowsky et al Environmental Health (2015) 14:66 vascular function [11]; many studies have either failed to find associations with these health effects or found only minor associations [12, 13] This could be due to differences in the population demographics and/or measured pollutant components across studies. Due to a lack of access to an electricity supply, or a place safe enough to carry out medical procedures, it remains difficult to collect as many health measurements in the field compared to a clinical setting. This inability to collect certain health measurements in an ambient setting hampers the ability of researchers to measure transient health effects following pollutant exposures. By relying on DBS, the present study extends the previous literature of measuring short-term adverse health effects associated with microenvironmental exposures to traffic-related air pollutants
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