Roadside Exposure and Inflammation Biomarkers among a Cohort of Traffic Police in Kathmandu, Nepal

Kabindra M. Shakya, Richard E. Peltier, Yimin Zhang and Basu D. Pandey
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Kabindra M. Shakya: Villanova University, Department of Geography and the Environment, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Richard E. Peltier: University of Massachusetts, Department of Environmental Health Science, Amherst, MA 01003, USA
Yimin Zhang: Villanova University, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
Basu D. Pandey: Kathmandu and Everest International Clinic and Research Center, Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital, Kathmandu 9045, Nepal

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Air pollution is a major environmental problem in the Kathmandu Valley. Specifically, roadside and traffic-related air pollution exposure levels were found at very high levels exceeding Nepal air quality standards for daily PM 2.5 . In an exposure study involving traffic police officers, we collected 78 blood samples in a highly polluted spring season (16 February 2014–4 April 2014) and 63 blood samples in the less polluted summer season (20 July 2014–22 August 2014). Fourteen biomarkers, i.e., C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), intracellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM-1), interferon gamma (IFN-γ), interleukins (IL1-β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) were analyzed in collected blood samples using proinflammatory panel 1 kits and vascular injury panel 2 kits. All the inflammatory biomarker levels were higher in the summer season than in the spring season, while particulate levels were higher in the spring season than in the summer season. We did not find significant association between 24-hour average PM 2.5 or black carbon (BC) exposure levels with most of analyzed biomarkers for the traffic volunteers working and residing near busy roads in Kathmandu, Nepal, during 2014. Inflammation and vascular injury marker concentrations were generally higher in females, suggesting the important role of gender in inflammation biomarkers. Because of the small sample size of female subjects, further investigation with a larger sample size is required to confirm the role of gender in inflammation biomarkers.

Keywords: roadside exposure; air pollution; inflammation biomarker; Nepal; PM 2.5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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