Article

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, environmental tobacco smoke, and respiratory symptoms in an inner-city birth cohort.

Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, PH8C, 630 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Chest (impact factor: 5.25). 11/2004; 126(4):1071-8. DOI:10.1378/chest.126.4.1071
Source: PubMed

ABSTRACT Several studies have found associations between diesel exposure, respiratory symptoms, and/or impaired pulmonary function. We hypothesized that prenatal exposure to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), important components of diesel exhaust and other combustion sources, may be associated with respiratory symptoms in young children. We also hypothesized that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may worsen symptoms beyond that observed to be associated with PAH alone.Design/participants: To test our hypotheses, we recruited 303 pregnant women from northern Manhattan believed to be at high risk for exposure to both PAH and ETS, collected 48-h personal PAH exposure measurements, and monitored their children prospectively.
By 12 months of age, more cough and wheeze were reported in children exposed to prenatal PAH in concert with ETS postnatally (PAH x ETS interaction odds ratios [ORs], 1.41 [p < 0.01] and 1.29 [p < 0.05], respectively). By 24 months, difficulty breathing and probable asthma were reported more frequently among children exposed to prenatal PAH and ETS postnatally (PAH x ETS ORs, 1.54 and 1.64, respectively [p < 0.05]).
Our results suggest that early exposure to airborne PAH and ETS can lead to increased respiratory symptoms and probable asthma by age 12 to 24 months. Interventions to lower the risk of respiratory disease in young children living in the inner city may need to address the importance of multiple environmental exposures.

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Keywords

12 months
 
24 months
 
48-h personal PAH exposure measurements
 
airborne PAH
 
airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
 
children prospectively
 
diesel exhaust
 
diesel exposure
 
environmental tobacco smoke
 
ETS postnatally
 
multiple environmental exposures
 
northern Manhattan
 
PAH alone.Design/participants
 
PAH x ETS interaction odds ratios [ORs]
 
PAH x ETS ORs
 
prenatal exposure
 
prenatal PAH
 
probable asthma
 
pulmonary function
 
respiratory symptoms