Existing evidence is scarce concerning the various effects of different PM sizes and chemical constituents on blood lipids. A panel study that involved 88 healthy college students with five repeated measurements (440 blood samples in total) was performed. We measured mass concentrations of particulate matter with diameters ≤ 2.5 μm (PM(2.5)), ≤1.0 μm (PM(1.0)), and ≤0.5 μm (PM(0.5)) as well as number concentrations of particulate matter with diameters ≤ 0.2 μm (PN(0.2)) and ≤0.1 μm (PN(0.1)). We applied linear mixed-effect models to assess the associations between short-term exposure to different PM size fractions and PM(2.5) constituents and seven lipid metrics. We found significant associations of greater concentrations of PM in different size fractions within 5 days before blood collection with lower high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apolipoprotein A (ApoA1) levels, higher apolipoprotein B (ApoB) levels, and lower ApoA1/ApoB ratios. Among the PM(2.5) constituents, we observed that higher concentrations of tin and lead were significantly associated with decreased HDL-C levels, and higher concentrations of nickel were associated with higher HDL-C levels. Our results suggest that short-term exposure to PM in different sizes was deleteriously associated with blood lipids. Some constituents, especially metals, might be the major contributors to the detrimental effects.
- He, Z. Z.
- Guo, P. Y.
- Xu, S. L.
- Zhou, Y.
- Jalaludin, B.
- Leskinen, A.
- Knibbs, L. D.
- Heinrich, J.
- Morawska, L.
- Yim, S. H.
- Bui, D.
- Komppula, M.
- Roponen, M.
- Hu, L.
- Chen, G.
- Zeng, X. W.
- Yu, Y.
- Yang, B. Y.
- Dong, G.
