Associations between ambient wood smoke and other particulate pollutants and biomarkers of systemic inflammation, coagulation and thrombosis in cardiac patients

Abstract

Background Increased particulate air pollution has been associated with both an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) and adverse changes in cardiac biomarkers. Up to 30% of ambient wintertime fine particles (PM2.5) in Rochester, NY are from wood burning. Our study examined associations between ambient levels of a marker of wood smoke (Delta-C) and other particulate air pollutants and biomarkers of inflammation, coagulation and thrombosis. Methods We measured blood concentrations of C-reactive protein (CRP), d-dimer, fibrinogen, P-selectin, platelet factor 4 (PF-4), von Willebrand factor (vWF), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) of 135 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization during the winters of 2011–2013. We coupled these data with hourly ambient concentrations of Delta-C, black carbon (BC; marker of traffic pollution), and ultrafine (10–100 nm; UFP), accumulation mode (100–500 nm; AMP), and fine particles (< 2.5 μm; PM2.5). Using linear regression models, we estimated the change in each biomarker associated with increased pollutant concentrations at intervals between 1 and 96 h preceding blood collection. Results Each 0.13 μg/m3 increase in Delta-C concentration in the prior 12 h was associated with a 0.91% increase in fibrinogen levels (95% CI=0.23%, 1.59%), but unexpectedly in the prior 48 h, each 0.17 μg/m3 increase in Delta-C concentration was associated with a 2.75% decrease in MPO levels (95% CI=−5.13%,−0.37%). We did not see associations between Delta-C concentrations and any other biomarkers. Interquartile range (IQR) increases in PM2.5, BC, UFP, and AMP concentrations were generally associated with increased CRP and fibrinogen, but not PF4, d-dimer, vWF, or P-selectin. Conclusions In a population of cardiac patients, we noted adverse changes in fibrinogen associated with increased concentrations of a marker of wood smoke. Increases in PM2.5, BC, AMP, and UFP concentrations in the previous 96 h were also associated with adverse changes in markers of systemic inflammation and coagulation, but not with markers of endothelial cell dysfunction or platelet activation.

Evaluation of black carbon mass concentrations using a miniaturized aethalometer: Intercomparison with a continuous soot monitoring system (COSMOS) and a single-particle soot photometer (SP2)

“…The MicroAeth AE51 (Aethlabs, USA) is a miniaturized, palm-sized aethalometer (Cheng and Lin 2013;Hagler et al 2011) that measures light attenuation (ATN) induced by the accumulation of BC on a filter at a nearinfrared wavelength of 880 nm. In this study, we ignored the possible interference of light-absorbing organic carbon (brown carbon, BrC), because BrC has a weak light absorption at the wavelength of 880 nm (e.g., Kirchstetter, Novakov, and Hobbs 2004).…”

“…The AE51 was operated with a Q of 0.2 lpm, a Dt of 1 min, and A was 7.1 mm 2 . Note that, while it should be considered, particle loading correction (Virkkula et al 2007;Weingartner et al 2003) is not typically included during data processing (Cheng and Lin 2013). Therefore, we evaluated this effect using ATN (hereafter referred to as ATN AE51 ) based on intercomparison experiments.…”

“…Deposited BC reduces the Earth's surface albedo and accelerates snow and ice melting processes (IPCC 2013;Flanner and Zender 2006). The adverse effects of BC aerosols on human health have also been investigated (Croft et al 2017;Li et al 2016;Louwies et al 2015).…”

“…Some low-cost and/or light-weight instruments have been developed for measuring BC (Caubel, Cados, and Kirchstetter 2018;Cheng and Lin 2013). For example, a miniaturized, palm-sized aethalometer (MicroAeth AE51, Aethlabs, US), which is a type of filter-photometer, was recently developed and successfully deployed.…”

“…Viana et al (2015) evaluated the instrumental errors of the AE51 based on six-unit simultaneous operations with a stationary instrument. Cheng and Lin (2013) evaluated the particle loading effect on the performance of the AE51 using a different aethalometer, possibly affected by light-scattering particles for a limited length of the time. These evaluations remain limited, however, especially with respect to light-scattering particles.…”