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EFFECTS OF NITROGEN DIOXIDE ON PULMONARY FUNCTION IN HUMAN SUBJECTS
Citation:
Kerr, H., T. Kulle, M. McIlhany, AND P. Swidersky. EFFECTS OF NITROGEN DIOXIDE ON PULMONARY FUNCTION IN HUMAN SUBJECTS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/1-78/025 (NTIS PB281186), 1978.
Description:
Twenty human subjects with asthma and chronic bronchitis and ten normal, healthy adults were exposed to 0.5 ppm of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) for two hours in an environmental chamber. They engaged in one 15-minute, light to medium-exercise stint on a bicycle ergometer during this period. The subjects with asthma experienced the greatest symptoms with exposure to NO2, i.e., seven of thirteen noting slight burning of the eyes, slight headache, and chest tightness or labored breathing with exercise. One each of the subjects with chronic bronchitis and the healthy, normal group experienced slight nasal discharge. Significant changes from control values for the group as a whole with exposure to NO2 were observed for the following pulmonary function tests: quasi-state compliance for the twenty subjects with asthma and chronic bronchitis as well as for the ten normal subjects, and functional residual capacity for the twenty subjects with asthma and chronic bronchitis. Subjects with asthma and chronic bronchitis as separate groups (n = 13 and 7 respectively) did not show any significant changes in pulmonary function with the NO2 exposure, even though the group of thirteen subjects with asthma experienced with greatest symptoms.