Short-Term Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Biomarkers of Systemic Inflammation: The Framingham Heart Study.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to examine associations between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and circulating biomarkers of systemic inflammation in participants from the Framingham Offspring and Third Generation cohorts in the greater Boston area.


APPROACH AND RESULTS
We included 3996 noncurrent smoking participants (mean age, 53.6 years; 54% women) who lived within 50 km from a central air pollution monitoring site in Boston, MA, and calculated the 1- to 7-day moving averages of fine particulate matter (diameter<2.5 µm), black carbon, sulfate, nitrogen oxides, and ozone before the examination visits. We used linear mixed effects models for C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor receptor 2, which were measured up to twice for each participant; we used linear regression models for interleukin-6, fibrinogen, and tumor necrosis factor α, which were measured once. We adjusted for demographics, socioeconomic position, lifestyle, time, and weather. The 3- to 7-day moving averages of fine particulate matter (diameter<2.5 µm) and sulfate were positively associated with C-reactive protein concentrations. A 5 µg/m3 higher 5-day moving average fine particulate matter (diameter<2.5 µm) was associated with 4.2% (95% confidence interval: 0.8, 7.6) higher circulating C-reactive protein. Positive associations were also observed for nitrogen oxides with interleukin-6 and for black carbon, sulfate, and ozone with tumor necrosis factor receptor 2. However, black carbon, sulfate, and nitrogen oxides were negatively associated with fibrinogen, and sulfate was negatively associated with tumor necrosis factor α.


CONCLUSIONS
Higher short-term exposure to relatively low levels of ambient air pollution was associated with higher levels of C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and tumor necrosis factor receptor 2 but not fibrinogen or tumor necrosis factor α in individuals residing in the greater Boston area.
['Li|Wenyuan|W|', 'Dorans|Kirsten S|KS|', 'Wilker|Elissa H|EH|', 'Rice|Mary B|MB|', 'Ljungman|Petter L|PL|', 'Schwartz|Joel D|JD|', 'Coull|Brent A|BA|', 'Koutrakis|Petros|P|', 'Gold|Diane R|DR|', 'Keaney|John F|JF|', 'Vasan|Ramachandran S|RS|', 'Benjamin|Emelia J|EJ|', 'Mittleman|Murray A|MA|']
D000328:Adult D000368:Aged D000393:Air Pollutants D015415:Biomarkers D001900:Boston D002097:C-Reactive Protein D004784:Environmental Monitoring D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007249:Inflammation D018836:Inflammation Mediators D019570:Inhalation Exposure D015850:Interleukin-6 D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D010316:Particle Size D052638:Particulate Matter D047889:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type II D018570:Risk Assessment D012307:Risk Factors D013997:Time Factors D015854:Up-Regulation D014504:Urban Health
air pollution biomarkers inflammation particulate matter epidemiology