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Individual-level PM2.5 exposure and the time course of impaired heart rate variability: the APACR Study

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 21, pages 65–73 (2011)Cite this article

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Abstract

In 106 community-dwelling middle-aged non-smokers we examined the time-course and the acute effects of fine particles (PM2.5) on heart rate variability (HRV), which measures cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM). Twenty-four hours beat-to-beat ECG data were visually examined. Artifacts and arrhythmic beats were removed. Normal beat-to-beat RR data were used to calculate HRV indices. Personal PM2.5 nephelometry was used to estimate 24-h individual-level real-time PM2.5 exposures. We use linear mixed-effects models to assess autocorrelation- and other major confounder-adjusted regression coefficients between 1–6 h moving averages of PM2.5 and HRV indices. The increases in preceding 1–6 h moving averages of PM2.5 was significantly associated with lower HF, LF, and SDNN, with the largest effect size at 4–6 h moving averages and smallest effects size at 1 h moving average. For example, a 10 μg/m3 increase in 1 and 6-h moving averages was associated with 0.027 and 0.068 ms2 decrease in log-HF, respectively, and with 0.024 and 0.071 ms2 decrease in log-LF, respectively, and with 0.81 and 1.75 ms decrease in SDNN, respectively (all P-values <0.05). PM2.5 exposures are associated with immediate impairment of CAM. With a time-course of within 6 h after elevated PM2.5 exposure, with the largest effects around 4–6 h.

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Acknowledgements

This study is funded by NIEHS (1 R01 ES014010). We thank Dr. David Mortara of Mortara Instrument Inc., for providing the SuperECG software for the analysis of the electrocardiographic data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    Fan He, Michele L Shaffer, Xian Li, Sol Rodriguez-Colon & Duanping Liao

  2. Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Penn State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA

    Deborah L Wolbrette

  3. U.S. EPA, National Exposure Research Laboratory, US EPA, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

    Ronald Williams

  4. Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Brody School of Medicine, and the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, USA

    Wayne E Cascio

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  1. Fan He
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Correspondence to Duanping Liao.

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He, F., Shaffer, M., Li, X. et al. Individual-level PM2.5 exposure and the time course of impaired heart rate variability: the APACR Study. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 21, 65–73 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2010.21

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