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Source location of air pollution and cardiac autonomic function: Trajectory cluster analysis for exposure assessment

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 17, pages 488–497 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Although many studies report that exposure to air pollution harms health, few have examined associations between pollution sources and health outcomes. We hypothesized that pollution originating in different locations has different associations with heart rate variability (HRV) among 497 men from the Normative Aging Study in Boston, Massachusetts. We identified the paths that air masses traveled (‘back-trajectories’) before arriving in Boston on the days the men were examined. Next, we classified these trajectories into six clusters. We examined whether the association of measured air pollutants with HRV (standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals, high-frequency power (HF) and low-frequency power (LF), and LF/HF ratio) differed by cluster. We also examined whether the clusters alone (not considering air pollution measurements) showed different associations with HRV. The effects of black carbon (BC) on all HRV measures were strongest on days with southwest trajectories. Subjects who were examined on days where air parcels came from west had the strongest associations with ozone. All particle pollutants (particulate matter <2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5), BC, and sulfates) were associated with increased LF/HF ratio on days with relatively short trajectories, which are related to local, slow-moving air masses. We also observed significant increases in LF/HF in days where air came from the northwest and west, compared to north trajectory days. Health effects associated with exposure to air pollution can be evaluated using pollutant concentrations as well as aspects of the pollution mixture captured by identifying locations where air masses originate. Independent effects of both these indicators of pollution exposure were seen on cardiac autonomic function.

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Abbreviations

BC:

black carbon

BMI:

body mass index

CI:

confidence interval

ECG:

electrocardiogram

HF:

high frequency power

HR:

heart rate

HRV:

heart rate variability

IQR:

interquartile range

LF:

low frequency power

NOAA:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

O3:

ozone

PM2.5:

particulate matter <2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter

SD:

standard deviation

SDNN:

standard deviation of NN intervals

SO42−:

sulfate

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) (ES00002, PO1 ES009825) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPAR827353). The VA Normative Aging Study is supported by the Cooperative Studies Program/Epidemiology Research and Information Center of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and is a component of the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, Boston. S.K.P. and M.S.O. were supported by training grant T32 ES07069 from the NIEHS, National Institutes of Health. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIEHS. M.S.O. was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars program.

We thank E.R. Dibbs and J.D. Awerbach for their invaluable assistance in conducting the heart rate variability measurements and other contributions to the VA Normative Aging Study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Sung Kyun Park, Petros Koutrakis & Joel Schwartz

  2. Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Marie S O'Neill

  3. NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, Mary Land, USA

    Barbara J B Stunder

  4. Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and the Department of Medicine, VA Normative Aging Study, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Pantel S Vokonas & David Sparrow

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  1. Sung Kyun Park
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Correspondence to Sung Kyun Park.

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Park, S., O'Neill, M., Stunder, B. et al. Source location of air pollution and cardiac autonomic function: Trajectory cluster analysis for exposure assessment. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17, 488–497 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jes.7500552

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