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AMBIENT COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH HEMATOLOGIC FACTORS IN ADULT ASTHMATICS
Citation:
YEATTS, K. B., E. R. SVENDSEN, J. P. CREASON, R. W. WILLIAMS, N. ALEXIS, P. A. BROMBERG, L. M. NEAS, R. B. DEVLIN, W. CASCIO, AND D. PEDEN. AMBIENT COARSE PARTICULATE MATTER ASSOCIATED WITH HEMATOLOGIC FACTORS IN ADULT ASTHMATICS. Presented at Society for Epidemiologic Research, Toronto, ON, CANADA, June 23 - 25, 2005.
Description:
Introduction: The elderly and those with cardiovascular disease are susceptible to particulate matter (PM) exposures. Asthmatics are thought to be primarily affected by PM via airway inflammation. We investigated whether factors in blood hemostasis change in response to fluctuations in ambient PM in asthmatics. 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. Peripheral blood samples were analyzed for serum albumin, serum triglycerides, white blood cells, hemoglobin, MCH (mean red blood cell hemoglobin), and MCHC (Mean red blood cell hemoglobin concentrations). 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 systemic blood end-points, specifically platelets (p=0.02), MCHC (p=0.031), triglycerides (0.0067), and eosinophils, (p=0.005) after adjusting for the effects of age, gender, height, weight, and temperature. For a 1 mg/m3 unit increase in coarse PM concentration, a 2.5% decrease in platelets and an increase of 4.4 % in triglycerides were found. Conclusion: These data suggest that exposure to small temporal gradients in ambient levels of PM 2.5-10 are sufficient to affect hemostatic, inflammatory and lipid parameters in adults with asthma. Adults with asthma may be susceptible to the effects of ambient PM not only via airway inflammation, but via hemostatic responses. There may be additional pathways by which PM affects adults with asthma. These findings do not necessarily represent EPA policy. Funding: EPA Cooperative Agreement 829522, NHLBI R01HL62624