Short- Term Effects of Air Pollution on Oxygen Saturation in a Cohort of Senior Adults in Steubenville, Ohio

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Heike Luttmann-Gibson, Harvard University; Stefanie Ebelt Sarnat, Emory University; Helen H. Suh, Harvard University; Brent A. Coull, Harvard University; Joel Schwartz, Harvard University; Antonella Zanobetti, Harvard University; Diane R. Gold, Harvard University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-02-01
• Publisher: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2014 by American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000089
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• ISSN: 1076-2752
• Volume: 56
• Issue: 2
• Start Page: 149
• End Page: 154
• Grant/Funding Information: This work is supported by funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (ES-09825 and ES-00002); the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (R826780-01-0, R827353-01-0); the Ohio Coal Development Office (CDO/D-98-2); and the United States Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory Award No. DE-FC26-00NT40771.
• Keywords: LOS-ANGELES; EXPOSURES; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; PARTICULATE; Public, Environmental & Occupational Health; PARTICLES; PANEL; POPULATION; ASSOCIATION; DISEASE; Science & Technology; PULSE-RATE; HEART-RATE-VARIABILITY
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Public Health; Environmental Sciences

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: We examine whether ambient air pollution is associated with oxygen saturation in 32 elderly subjects in Steubenville, Ohio. METHODS: We used linear mixed models to examine the effects of fine particulate matter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), sulfate (SO4), elemental carbon, and gases on median oxygen saturation. RESULTS: An interquartile range increase of 13.4 μg/m in PM2.5 on the previous day was associated with a decrease of -0.18% (95% confidence interval: -0.31 to -0.06) and a 5.1 μg/m interquartile range increase in SO4 on the previous day was associated with a decrease of -0.16% (95% confidence interval: -0.27 to -0.04) in oxygen saturation during the initial 5-minute rest period of the protocol. CONCLUSIONS: Increased exposure to air pollution, including the nontraffic pollutant SO4 from industrial sources, led to changes in oxygen saturation that may reflect particle-induced pulmonary inflammatory or vascular responses.