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Ambient Metals, Elemental Carbon, and Wheeze and Cough in New York City Children through 24 Months of Age

¹ Division of Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, College of Physicians and Surgeons; ² Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health; ³ Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health; ⁴ Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; and ⁵ The Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University, New York, New York

Correspondence and request for reprints should be addressed to Rachel L. Miller, M.D., PH8E, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, 630 W. 168th St, New York, NY 10032. E-mail: rlm14{at}columbia.edu

Rationale: The effects of exposure to specific components of ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), including metals and elemental carbon (EC), have not been fully characterized in young children.

Objectives: To compare temporal associations among PM_2.5; individual metal constituents of ambient PM_2.5, including nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn); and EC and longitudinal reports of respiratory symptoms through 24 months of age.

Methods: Study participants were selected from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health birth cohort recruited in New York City between 1998 and 2006. Respiratory symptom data were collected by questionnaire every 3 months through 24 months of age. Ambient pollutant data were obtained from state-operated stationary monitoring sites located within the study area. For each subject, 3-month average inverse-distance weighted concentrations of Ni, V, Zn, EC, and PM_2.5 were calculated for each symptom-reporting period based on the questionnaire date and the preceding 3 months. Associations between pollutants and symptoms were characterized using generalized additive mixed effects models, adjusting for sex, ethnicity, environmental tobacco smoke exposure, and calendar time.

Measurements and Main Results: Increases in ambient Ni and V concentrations were associated significantly with increased probability of wheeze. Increases in EC were associated significantly with cough during the cold/flu season. Total PM_2.5 was not associated with wheeze or cough.

Conclusions: These results suggest that exposure to ambient metals and EC from heating oil and/or traffic at levels characteristic of urban environments may be associated with respiratory symptoms among very young children.

Key Words: traffic • heating oil combustion • metals • asthma

AT A GLANCE COMMENTARY Scientific Knowledge on the Subject Associations between ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and asthma development and acute asthma exacerbations are well documented. However, health effects of exposure to specific airborne components from traffic and heating oil combustion, including metals and elemental carbon, have not been fully characterized. What This Study Adds to the Field We present evidence that implicates exposures to ambient nickel, vanadium, and elemental carbon as possible risk factors for respiratory symptoms in a young inner-city cohort. The report provides evidence that exposures to PM2.5–associated metals and elemental carbon from sources such as heating oil combustion and traffic may be important health-relevant PM2.5 fractions associated with asthma morbidity in urban children as young as 2 years of age.