Chest
Volume 129, Issue 6, June 2006, Pages 1614-1622
Journal home page for Chest

Original Research
Effect of Particulate Air Pollution on Lung Function in Adult and Pediatric Subjects in a Seattle Panel Study

https://doi.org/10.1378/chest.129.6.1614Get rights and content

Study objective

To determine whether increased exposure to particulate matter air pollution (PM), measured with personal, residential, or central site monitoring, was associated with pulmonary function decrements in either adults with COPD or children with asthma.

Participants

We studied 57 adults with or without COPD and 17 children aged 6 to 13 years with physician-diagnosed asthma in Seattle during a 3-year panel study.

Study design and measurements

Indoor and outdoor PM measurements were made at subjects’ homes. The subjects wore personal exposure monitors for 10 consecutive 24-h periods, and PM was also measured at a central outdoor location. We assessed the within-subject effect of particulate exposure on FEV1 and peak expiratory flow (PEF) in adults, and maximal midexpiratory flow (MMEF), PEF, FEV1, and symptoms in children.

Results

FEV1 decrements were associated with 1-day lagged central site PM ≤ 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5) in adult subjects with COPD. In children not receiving antiinflammatory medication, same day indoor, outdoor, and central site exposures to PM2.5 were associated with decrements in MMEF, PEF, and FEV1. Associations with PM2.5 and lung function decrements were also observed for 1-day lagged indoor (MMEF, PEF, FEV1) and personal (PEF only) exposures. Antiinflammatory medication use in children significantly attenuated the PM effect on airflow rates and volumes.

Conclusions

This study found consistent decrements in MMEF in children with asthma who were not receiving medications. It is notable that effects were observed even though PM exposures were low for an urban area. These findings suggest the need for future larger studies of PM effects in this susceptible population that repeatedly measure spirometry to include MMEF and potentially more sensitive markers of airway inflammation such as exhaled breath condensate and exhaled nitric oxide.

Section snippets

Materials and Methods

We performed a 3-year panel study (from 1999 to 2002) in Seattle that evaluated cardiac and respiratory effects of personal, indoor, and outdoor measures of air pollution in 57 elderly subjects who were either healthy or had respiratory or cardiac disease. We also studied 17 children with asthma. The experimental design and exposure monitoring methods are described below. A detailed discussion of the exposure assessment methods and results has been published previously.12

Subjects were recruited

Adult Subjects

A total of 57 subjects (24 with COPD and 33 without COPD) were included in this analysis. The COPD subjects ranged in age from 65 to 89 years; non-COPD subjects were 56 to 88 years old. The median age for both groups was 76 years. Many of the subjects (33%) enrolled for more than one session (10-day monitoring period). The median percentage of predicted FEV1 at screening for the subjects was 56% for COPD subjects and 100% for non-COPD subjects. The percentage of predicted FEV1 value for two

Discussion

This study found decrements in lung function associated with PM exposure in both elderly adults with COPD and children with asthma. Associations were strongest for central site PM2.5 and FEV1 in adults with COPD. PEF results in this group are consistent with those for FEV1, but the association is weaker. Unfortunately, the association between PM and MMEF could not be tested in the adults since the lung function instrument used by those subjects measured only FEV1 and PEF. The absence of a

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors thank the research study volunteers and the parents of the pediatric group for participating. We are grateful to Tim Gould and Liz Tuttle for study coordination and related exposure monitoring activities, and numerous field technicians. We wish to acknowledge Therese Hinton for her efforts recruiting pediatric subjects, Matthew Budge for subject screening and enrollment activities, the staff at Northwest Asthma and Allergy Clinic in Seattle for accommodating our researchers during

References (32)

  • KoenigJQ et al.

    Pulmonary function changes in children associated with fine particulate matter

    Environ Res

    (1993)
  • HamidQ et al.

    Inflammation of small airways in asthma

    J Allergy Clin Immunol

    (1997)
  • FuhlbriggeAL et al.

    FEV1is associated with risk of asthma attacks in a pediatric population

    J Allergy Clin Immunol

    (2001)
  • PopeCA et al.

    Acute health effects of PM10pollution on symptomatic and asymptomatic children

    Am Rev Respir Dis

    (2002)
  • RomieuI et al.

    Effects of air pollution on the respiratory health of asthmatic children living in Mexico City

    Am J Respir Crit Care Med

    (1996)
  • SchwartzJ et al.

    Fine particles are more strongly associated than coarse particles with acute respiratory health effects in schoolchildren

    Epidemiology

    (2000)
  • US EPA. Air quality criteria for particulate matter. Research Triangle Park, NC: Office of Research and Development...
  • DelfinoRJ et al.

    Association of FEV1in asthmatic children with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter

    Environ Health Perspect

    (2004)
  • GrievinkL et al.

    Modulation of the acute respiratory effects of winter air pollution by serum and dietary antioxidants: a panel study

    Eur Respir J

    (1999)
  • Van der ZeeSC et al.

    Acute effects of air pollution on respiratory health of 50–70 yr old adults

    Eur Respir J

    (2000)
  • BrauerM et al.

    Exposure of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients to particles and respiratory and cardiovascular health effects

    J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol

    (2001)
  • PenttinenP et al.

    Number concentration and size of particles in urban air: effects on spirometric lung function in adult asthmatic subjects

    Environ Health Perspect

    (2001)
  • YuO et al.

    Effects of ambient air pollution on symptoms of asthma in Seattle-area children enrolled in the CAMP study

    Environ Health Perspect

    (2000)
  • LiuLJ et al.

    Exposure assessment of particulate matter for susceptible populations in Seattle

    Environ Health Perspect

    (2003)
  • MacklemPT

    The physiology of small airways

    Am J Respir Crit Care Med

    (1998)
  • LiuLJ et al.

    Comparison of light scattering devices and impactors for particulate measurements in indoor, outdoor, and personal environments

    Environ Sci Technol

    (2002)
  • Cited by (0)

    Reproduction of this article is prohibited without written permission from the American College of Chest Physicians (www.chestjournal.org/misc/reprints.shtml)

    This article does not necessarily reflect the views of the EPA, and no official endorsement should be inferred.

    Financial support was provided by EPA grants R827355 and R827177, and the University of Washington National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center for Ecogenetics and Environmental Health grant P30ES07033.

    View full text