Short-Term Effects of Fine Particulate Matter and Temperature on Lung Function among Healthy College Students in Wuhan, China

Yunquan Zhang, Mingquan He, Simin Wu, Yaohui Zhu, Suqing Wang, Masayuki Shima, Kenji Tamura and Lu Ma
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Yunquan Zhang: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Mingquan He: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Simin Wu: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Yaohui Zhu: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Suqing Wang: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China
Masayuki Shima: Department of Public Health, Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan
Kenji Tamura: Environmental Health Sciences Division and Integrated Health Risk Assessment Section, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Lu Ma: Department of Epidemiology and Health Statistics, School of Public Health, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, China

IJERPH, 2015, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: Ambient fine particulate matter (PM) has been associated with impaired lung function, but the effect of temperature on lung function and the potential interaction effect between PM and temperature remain uncertain. To estimate the short-term effects of PM 2.5 combined with temperature on lung function, we measured the daily peak expiratory flow (PEF) in a panel of 37 healthy college students in four different seasons. Meanwhile, we also monitored daily concentrations of indoor and outdoor PM 2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm), ambient temperature and relative humidity of the study area, where the study participants lived and attended school. Associations of air pollutants and temperature with lung function were assessed by generalized estimating equations (GEEs). A 10 μg/m 3 increase of indoor PM 2.5 was associated with a change of −2.09 L/min in evening PEF (95% CI : −3.73 L/min–−0.51 L/min) after adjusting for season, height, gender, temperature and relative humidity. The changes of −2.17 L/min (95% CI : −3.81 L/min– −0.52 L/min) and −2.18 L/min (95% CI : −3.96 L/min–−0.41 L/min) in evening PEF were also observed after adjusting for outdoor SO 2 and NO 2 measured by Environmental Monitoring Center 3 kilometers away, respectively. An increase in ambient temperature was found to be associated with a decrease in lung function and our results revealed a small but significant antagonistic interactive effect between PM 2.5 and temperature. Our findings suggest that ambient PM 2.5 has an acute adverse effect on lung function in young healthy adults, and that temperature also plays an important role.

Keywords: college students; particulate matter; temperature; lung function; GEE (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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