E-058

Abstract

Background: Changes in air temperature are associated with an increase in cardiovascular events, but the role of pro-coagulant and proinflammatory blood markers is poorly understood. Objectives:We investigated the association between air temperature and interleukin-6 (IL-6), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), fibrinogen, and plasminogen-activator-inhibitor-type 1 (PAI-1) in two potentially susceptible groups.Methods: A prospective panel study was conducted between March, 2007 and December, 2008. The study population comprised 187 participants with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) or impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and 87 participants with genetic polymorphisms (GEN) on the detoxification or inflammation pathways from Augsburg, Germany. Overall, 1,766 repeated blood measurements were collected. Hourly meteorology and air pollution data were available from a central measurement site. The association between temperature and log-transformed blood markers was analyzed with additive mixed models including random participant effects.Results: For T2D and IGT participants, we observed immediate, delayed and cumulative increases in fibrinogen (range of %-changes in geometric mean: 0.6-0.8%) and PAI-1 (6.0-10.1%) in association with a 5°C-temperature decrement. Participants with a body mass index >30kg/m² and females showed particularly strong fibrinogen effects. In GEN participants, 5°C-decrements in 5-day-average temperature led to a change of 8.0% (95%-confidence interval: [0.5, 16.2]) in IL-6 and of -8.4% [-15.8, -0.3] in hsCRP, the latter driven by physically active individuals. Adjustment for particulate air pollution did not change temperature effects. Conclusions:We observed different temperature effects in the two subgroups possibly indicating different underlying biological mechanisms. Our results might provide a link between temperature and cardiovascular events.