Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and inflammatory response in the KORA study

Previous studies consistently showed an association between fine atmospheric particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and cardiovascular diseases. Concerns about adverse health effects of ultrafine particles (UFP) are growing but long-term studies are still scarce. In this study, we examined the association between long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants and blood biomarkers of inflammation and coagulation, including fibrinogen, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA) adiponectin and interleukin-6 (IL-6), measured in the German KORA-S4 cohort study (1999-2001). IL-6 was available for older participants only, who were therefore considered as a subsample. Annual mean concentrations of UFP (as particle number concentration), particulate matter in different particles sizes (PM(10), PM(coarse), PM(2.5), PM(2.5) absorbance), ozone (O(3)), and nitrogen oxides (NO(2), NO(X)) were estimated by land-use regression models and assigned to participants' home addresses. We performed a multiple linear regression between each pollutant and each biomarker with adjustment for confounders. Per 1 interquartile range (IQR, 1945 particles/cm(3)) increase of UFP, fibrinogen increased by 0.70 % (0.04; 1.37) and hs-CRP increased by 3.16 % (-0.52; 6.98). Adiponectin decreased by -2.53 % (-4.78; -0.24) per 1 IQR (1.4 

• Vogli, M.
• Peters, A.
• Wolf, K.
• Thorand, B.
• Herder, C.
• Koenig, W.
• Cyrys, J.
• Maestri, E.
• Marmiroli, N.
• Karrasch, S.
• Zhang, S.
• Pickford, R.