Long-term exposure to particulate air pollution and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation in the Old Order Amish

摘要

BackgroundAtmospheric particulate matter (PM) has been associated with endothelial dysfunction, an early marker of cardiovascular risk. Our aim was to extend this research to a genetically homogenous, geographically stable rural population using location-specific moving-average air pollution exposure estimates indexed to the date of endothelial function measurement.MethodsWe measured endothelial function using brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in 615 community-dwelling healthy Amish participants. Exposures to PM??2.5?μm (PMsub2.5/sub) and PM??10?μm (PMsub10/sub) were estimated at participants’ residential addresses using previously developed geographic information system-based spatio-temporal models and normalized. Associations between PM exposures and FMD were evaluated using linear mixed-effects regression models, and polynomial distributed lag (PDL) models followed by Bayesian model averaging (BMA) were used to assess response to delayed effects occurring across multiple months.ResultsExposure to PMsub10/sub was consistently inversely associated with FMD, with the strongest (most negative) association for a 12-month moving average (??0.09; 95% CI: ??0.15, ??0.03). Associations with PMsub2.5/sub were also strongest for a 12-month moving average but were weaker than for PMsub10/sub (??0.07; 95% CI: ??0.13, ??0.09). Associations of PMsub2.5/sub and PMsub10/sub with FMD were somewhat stronger in men than in women, particularly for PMsub10/sub.ConclusionsUsing location-specific moving-average air pollution exposure estimates, we have shown that 12-month moving-average estimates of PMsub2.5/sub and PMsub10/sub exposure are associated with impaired endothelial function in a rural population.