Declining Pulmonary Function in Populations with Long-term Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons-Enriched PM_2.5

Abstract

This study assesses the effects of long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants on inflammatory response and lung function. We selected 390 male coke oven workers with exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and fine particulate matter (PM) and 115 control workers. The average duration in the exposed group was 9.10 years. The total amount of PAHs was more enriched in PM which collected from the coke oven workshops compared with the control areas. Correspondingly, the internal PAHs exposure indicated by urinary 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) in the exposure group increased 25.7-fold compared to that of the control group. Moreover, the increasing level of urinary 1-OHP was associated with the decrease of forced expiratory volume in 1 s to forced vital capacity ratio (FEV/FVC). In non-current smokers of exposure group, inverse correlation of 1-OHP with FEV/FVC was also found. Particularly, an exposure duration-dependent decline in FEV/FVC and mean forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of forced vital capacity (FEF) indicated that small airways were functionally obstructed. Furthermore, the increasing serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) was correlated with the decline in pulmonary function in all subjects. These findings provide a clue that long-term exposure to PAHs-enriched PM impairs pulmonary function in occupational population.

Oxidative damage mediates the association between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure and lung function

“…Along with our previous study [8], the associations between PAH exposure and altered lung function have been widely conducted in occupational [33], pediatric [34,35] and general populations [36]. It is generally believed that oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in the pathogenic process following PAH exposure.…”

Characterization of the light-absorbing properties, chromophore composition and sources of brown carbon aerosol in Xi'an, northwestern China

“…BrC can efficiently absorb solar radiation and reduce the photolysis rates of atmospheric radicals (Jacobson, 1999;Li et al, 2011;Mok et al, 2016), which ultimately influences the atmospheric photochemistry process, the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and therefore the regional air quality (Mohr et al, 2013;Laskin et al, 2015;Moise et al, 2015). In addition, some components in BrC, such as nitrated aromatic compounds (NACs; Teich et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2018) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs; Huang et al, 2018), have adverse effects on human health (Bandowe et al, 2014;Shen et al, 2018). The significant effects of BrC on environment, climate, air quality and living things call for more studies to understand its chemical characteristics, sources and the links with optical properties.…”

Assessment of the chemical hazard awareness of petrol tanker driver: A case study

“…Thus, possible situation is where current concentration and rate of exposure to petrol may not reach to the level of exhibiting a short-term health symptom on the tanker driver (Damalas and Koutroubas, 2016; Gericke et al., 2001). Prolonged health effect could be studied by collecting data on short term exposure limit and time-weighted average of the exposure to determine the lifetime average daily dose for the exposure with the support of medical health data of the tanker driver (Shen et al., 2018). Many cases of occupational illness emerge after the employees had retired due to the risk of their occupation (Mukaida et al., 2017).…”

“…This finding further supports the result in Table 3 where the sensitivity of an individual towards chemical exposure depends on the duration of exposure and the frequency of exposure (Damalas and Koutroubas, 2016). Prolonged and frequent exposure to the target chemical may have reduced the senses of an individual to notice the presence of the component in their surroundings because of sensory adaptation (Shen et al., 2018). A study shows that human olfactory function will decline and start to lose the ability to sense smell as a person grew older could be one of the factors that disable experience worker to detect spillage from their sense of smell (Boyce and Shone, 2006).…”