Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 163, Number 2, February 2001, 356-361

Short-Term Variation in Air Pollution and in Average Lung Function Among Never-Smokers
The Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA)

CHRISTIAN SCHINDLER, NINO KÜNZLI, JEAN-PIERRE BONGARD, PHILIPPE LEUENBERGER, WERNER KARRER, REGULA RAPP, CHRISTIAN MONN, and URSULA ACKERMANN-LIEBRICH, and The Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases In Adults Investigators

University of Basel, Basel; CHUV Lausanne, Lausanne; Luzerner Höhenklinik Montana, Montana; and ETH Zürich, Switzerland

The present analysis was directed at investigating associations between short-term variations in air pollutant levels (NO₂, total suspended particulates [TSP], O₃) and cross-sectional lung function (FVC, FEV₁, and forced expiratory flow at 25% to 75% of FVC [FEF_25-75]) within a random sample of 3,912 adult never-smokers from eight areas of Switzerland (i.e., participants in the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults [SAPALDIA] cross-sectional study, 1991). Within each local data set, the logarithms of FVC, FEV₁, and FEF_25-75 were regressed against the 24-h-means of NO₂ and TSP and the 8-h mean of O₃ (10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) on the examination day, with control for subjects' sex, age, height and weight, seasonal fluctuations and weekly cycles and meteorologic factors. On average, a 10-µg/m³ increment in the daily level of NO₂, TSP, and O₃ was associated with decrements in FEV₁ of 0.67% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13% to 1.21%), 0.46% (95% CI: 0.14% to 0.78%), and 0.51% (95% CI: 0.13% to 0.88%), respectively. Moreover, 10-µg/m³ increments in NO₂ and TSP were associated with decrements in FVC of 0.73% (95% CI: 0.22% to 1.23%) and 0.36% (95% CI: 0.06% to 0.66%), respectively, and a 10-µg/m³ increment in O₃ was associated with a decrement in FEF_25-75 of 1.04% (95% CI: 0.22% to 1.85%). Our results suggest that FVC, FEV₁, and FEF_25-75 vary with the daily level of NO₂, TSP, and O₃, but that these measures of lung function do not allow separation of the effects of particulates from those of NO₂.

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