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. 2024 Dec 1;262(Pt 1):119846.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119846. Epub 2024 Aug 24.

Long-term exposures to low concentrations of source-specific air pollution, road-traffic noise, and systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease biomarkers

Sara Allaouat  1 , Tarja Yli-Tuomi  2 , Pekka Tiittanen  2 , Jaakko Kukkonen  3 , Leena Kangas  4 , Santtu Mikkonen  5 , Tiia Ngandu  2 , Pekka Jousilahti  2 , Taina Siponen  2 , Tanja Zeller  6 , Timo Lanki  7
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Free article

Long-term exposures to low concentrations of source-specific air pollution, road-traffic noise, and systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease biomarkers

Sara Allaouat et al. Environ Res. .
Free article

Abstract

Objectives: Air pollution and traffic noise are detrimental to cardiovascular health. However, the effects of different sources of these exposures on cardiovascular biomarkers remain unclear. We explored the associations of long-term exposure to source-specific air pollution (vehicular exhausts and residential woodsmoke) at low concentrations and road-traffic noise with systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease biomarkers.

Material and methods: Modeled outdoor exposure to fine particulate matter (aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm; PM2.5) from vehicular exhausts and residential woodsmoke, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) from road traffic, and road-traffic noise were linked to the home addresses of the participants (Finnish residents aged 25-74) in the FINRISK study 1997-2012. The participants were located in the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and the region of Turku, Finland. The outcomes were high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker for systemic inflammation, and cardiovascular disease biomarkers N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and troponin I. We performed cross-sectional analyses with linear and additive models and adjusted for potential confounders.

Results: We found no association between PM2.5 from vehicular exhausts (% CRP difference for 1 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5: -0.9, 95% confidence interval, CI: -7.2, 5.8), or from residential woodsmoke (% difference: -8.1, 95% CI: -21.7, 7.9) and CRP (N = 4147). Road-traffic noise >70 dB tended to be positively associated with CRP (% CRP difference versus noise reference category of ≤45 dB: 18.3, 95% CI: -0.5, 40.6), but the association lacked significance and robustness (N = 7142). Otherwise, we found no association between road-traffic noise and CRP, nor between NO2 from road traffic and NT-proBNP (N = 1907) or troponin I (N = 1951).

Conclusion: Long-term exposures to source-specific, fairly low-level air pollution from vehicular exhausts and residential woodsmoke, or road-traffic noise were not associated with systemic inflammation and cardiovascular disease biomarkers in this urban area.

Keywords: CRP; NT-proBNP; Noise; PM(2.5); Source-specific exposure; Troponin I.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Tanja Zeller has patent #397 WO2022043229A1 licensed to a computing device to estimate the probability of myocardial infarction. Tanja Zeller is shareholder of the ART.EMIS GmbH Hamburg. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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