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

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 11, pages 490–500 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

To examine hypotheses regarding air pollution health effects, we conducted an exploratory study to evaluate relationships between personal and ambient concentrations of particles with measures of cardiopulmonary health in a sample of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Sixteen currently non-smoking COPD patients (mean age=74) residing in Vancouver were equipped with a particle (PM2.5) monitor for seven 24-h periods. Subjects underwent ambulatory heart monitoring, had their lung function and blood pressure (BP) measured, and recorded symptoms and medication use. Ambient PM2.5, PM10, sulfate, and gaseous pollutant concentrations were monitored at five sites within the study area. Although no associations between air pollution and lung function were statistically significant, an estimated effect of 3% and 1% declines in daily FEV1 change (ΔFEV1) for each 10 μg/m3 increase in ambient PM10 and PM2.5, respectively, was observed. Increases of 1 μg/m3 in personal or ambient sulfate were associated with 1.0% and 0.3% declines in ΔFEV1, respectively. Weak associations were observed between particle concentrations and increased supraventricular ectopic heartbeats and with decreased systolic BP. No consistent associations were observed between any particle metric and diastolic BP, heart rate, or heart rate variability (r-MSSD or SDNN), symptom severity, or bronchodilator use. Of the pollutants measured, ambient PM10 was most consistently associated with health parameters; the use of personal exposures did not improve the strength of any associations or lead to increased effect estimates.

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Acknowledgements

We extend our sincere thanks to the study subjects who generously and conscientiously donated 7 days of personal sampling to this project. We would like to thank the Greater Vancouver Regional District Air Quality Department for their assistance with ambient monitoring, and Parveen Bhatti for technical assistance with the field monitoring and laboratory analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    MICHAEL BRAUER, STEFANIE T EBELT & TERI V FISHER

  2. Department of Medicine, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    MICHAEL BRAUER, TERI V FISHER & SVERRE VEDAL

  3. Department of Statistics, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    JOCHEN BRUMM & A JOHN PETKAU

Authors
  1. MICHAEL BRAUER
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  2. STEFANIE T EBELT
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  3. TERI V FISHER
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  5. A JOHN PETKAU
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  6. SVERRE VEDAL
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to MICHAEL BRAUER.

Additional information

Supported, in part, by grants from the British Columbia Lung Association, a British Columbia Lung Association/Medical Research Council of Canada Scientist (M. Brauer), and an American Lung Association Career Investigator Award (M. Brauer).

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BRAUER, M., EBELT, S., FISHER, T. et al. Exposure of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients to particles: Respiratory and cardiovascular health effects. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 11, 490–500 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jea.7500195

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