You are here:
AMBIENT COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH PLASMINOGEN AND FIBRIOGEN LEVELS IN ADULT ASTHMATICS
Citation:
YEATTS, K. B., E. R. SVENDSEN, J. P. CREASON, R. W. WILLIAMS, P. BROMBERG, L. M. NEAS, R. B. DEVLIN, W. CASCIO, AND D. PEDEN. AMBIENT COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH PLASMINOGEN AND FIBRIOGEN LEVELS IN ADULT ASTHMATICS. Presented at Society for Epidemiologic Research, Toronto, ON, CANADA, June 23 - 25, 2005.
Description:
Introduction: Recent reports indicate that the elderly and those with cardiovascular disease are susceptible to fine and coarse particulate matter (PM 2.5, PM 2.5-10) exposures. Asthmatics are thought to be primarily affected via airway inflammation. We investigated whether markers of blood coagulation change in response to ambient PM. Methods: Twelve atopic adults with mild to moderate persistent asthma living in a 30 mile radius of the clinic were followed over a six week period, each with nine clinic visits. Daily ambient coarse (PM 2.5-10) and fine (PM 2.5) PM were measured separately for each 24 hour period using a Rupprecht & Patashnick (R&P) Partisol Plus 2025D dichotomous air sampler. Blood samples were analyzed for blood coagulation factors including plasminogen, fibrinogen, Von Willebrand factor, D-dimer, plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1), Factor VII, and Factor IX. Linear mixed models controlling for within subject correlation and confounding were used to assess potential associations. Results: We found changes in ambient PM 2.5-10 were associated with plasminogen and fibrinogen levels in peripheral blood samples (p<0.018), after adjusting for the effects of age, gender, height, weight, and temperature. For a 10 mg/m3 increase in PM coarse concentration, a decrease of .13% in plasminogen and 0.53% in fibrinogen concentration were found. No such relationship was seen for PM 2.5. Other blood coagulation factors showed no such association. The mean concentration for PM 10 2.5-10 was 5.6 mg/m3 (0-15 mg/m3) and PM 2.5 12.4 mg/m3 (6-37 mg/m3) measured adjacent to the clinic. Conclusion: These data suggest that exposure to ambient levels of PM 2.5-10 affect certain molecules (plasminogen, fibrinogen) in the fibrinolytic pathway of blood clot formation in adult asthmatics. These findings do not necessarily represent EPA policy.
Funding: EPA Cooperative Agreement 829522, NHLBI R01HL62624