Short-term effects of the toxic component of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on lung function in healthy adults using a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR).

Jia Xu, Nan Zhang, Guotao Zhang, Yujuan Zhang, Zhiyu Wang, Ping Lu, Wen Yang, Chunmei Geng, Xinhua Wang, Liwen Zhang, Bin Han, Zhipeng Bai

Journal: Environmental research 2022;214(Pt 1):113745

PMID: 35779616

Full Text on Elsevier Science View on PubMed

Abstract

Short-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) are associated with reduced lung function. However, TRAP is a mixture of various gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM), and therefore it is unknown that which components of TRAP are responsible for the respiratory toxicity. Using a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR), we conducted a randomized, double-blind, crossover trial in which 40 adults were exposed to TRAP for 2 h at the sidewalk of a busy road. During the exposure, the participants wore the PAPR fitted with a PM filter, a PM and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) filter, or a sham filter (no filtration, Sham mode). The participants were blinded to the type of filter in their PAPR, and experienced three exposures, once for each intervention mode in random order. We measured two lung function measures (forced expiratory volume in 1 s [FEV1] and forced vital capacity [FVC]) and an airway inflammation marker (fraction of exhaled nitric oxide [FE]) before and immediately after each exposure, and further measured them at different time periods after exposure. We applied linear mixed effect models to estimate the effects of the interventions on the changes of lung function from baseline values after controlling for other covariates. Compared to baseline, exposing to TRAP decreased FEV1 and FVC, and increased FEV1/FVC and FE in all three intervention modes. The mixed models showed that with the sham mode as reference, lung function and airway inflammation post exposure were significantly improved by filtering both PM and VOCs, but marginally affected by filtering only PM. In conclusion, the VOCs component of TRAP is responsible for the reduction in lung function caused by short-term exposure to TRAP. However, the result needs to be interpreted cautiously before further verified by laboratory experiment using purely isolated component(s) of TRAP.

Address: State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China.; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China; Department of Family Planning, The Second Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300211, China.; Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition, and Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Center for International Collaborative Research on Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, 300070, China.; Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition, and Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, 300070, China; Center for International Collaborative Research on Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, 300070, China. Electronic address: [email protected].; State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing, 100012, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.113745

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MeSH Terms: Adult, Air Pollutants, Air Pollution, Environmental Exposure, Humans, Inflammation, Lung, Particulate Matter, Respiratory Protective Devices