The immediate effect within minutes to hours of personal exposure to ambient fine
particulate matter (PM2.5) on cardiac autonomic function is limited, particularly at night. Our study aimed
to assess the lagged association between personal exposure to PM2.5 and nocturnal heart rate variability. Repeated measures panel study among 21 community
adults recruited from a local health clinic during the period of March 1, 2004, to
August 31, 2004, in Boston, Massachusetts, in the United States. Ambulatory electrocardiogram
and continuous monitoring of personal exposure to PM2.5 and were measured for up to 2 consecutive days. We calculated 5-minute time-specific
average PM2.5 exposure for each participant. Mixed-effects models were fit for 5-minute SD of normal-to-normal
intervals (SDNN) and 5-minute heart rate in relation to 5-minute PM2.5 exposure lagged in 5-minute intervals up to 4 hours. We found an 8.4% decrease in
nocturnal SDNN (95% confidence interval [CI] −11.3% to −5.5%) and a 1.9% increase
in nighttime heart rate (95% CI 1.1% to 2.7%) for an interquartile range increase
in PM2.5 (13.6 μg/m3), after adjusting for confounders. Significant decreases in nocturnal SDNN associated
with PM2.5 exposure occurred within 2.5 hours. The largest decrease in nocturnal SDNN of −12.8%
(95% CI −16.4 to −9.1%) that was associated with PM2.5 exposure was found with a lag of 25 minutes. Rapid changes in nocturnal heart rate
variability associated with personal PM2.5 exposure occurred within the previous 2.5 hours, with the largest effects at 25 minutes,
suggesting immediate cardiac autonomic effects of fine particulate exposure.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 18, 2015
Accepted:
October 9,
2015
Received in revised form:
October 9,
2015
Received:
June 5,
2015
Footnotes
This study was supported by the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) grant (#RD-83083801) from the US. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, DC, and grant (ES000002) from National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC.
See page 155 for disclosure information.
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© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
