Ultrafine particles, particle components and lung function at age 16 years: The PIAMA birth cohort study

Abstract Background Particulate matter (PM) air pollution exposure has been linked to lung function in adolescents, but little is known about the relevance of specific PM components and ultrafine particles (UFP). Objectives To investigate the associations of long-term exposure to PM elemental composition and UFP with lung function at age 16 years. Methods For 706 participants of a prospective Dutch birth cohort, we assessed associations of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC) at age 16 with average exposure to eight elemental components (copper, iron, potassium, nickel, sulfur, silicon, vanadium and zinc) in PM2.5 and PM10, as well as UFP during the preceding years (age 13–16 years) estimated by land-use regression models. After assessing associations for each pollutant individually using linear regression models with adjustment for potential confounders, independence of associations with different pollutants was assessed in two-pollutant models with PM mass and NO2, for which associations with lung function have been reported previously. Results We observed that for most PM elemental components higher exposure was associated with lower FEV1, especially PM10 sulfur [e.g. adjusted difference −2.23% (95% confidence interval (CI) −3.70 to −0.74%) per interquartile range (IQR) increase in PM10 sulfur]. The association with PM10 sulfur remained after adjusting for PM10 mass. Negative associations of exposure to UFP with both FEV1 and FVC were observed [-1.06% (95% CI: −2.08 to −0.03%) and −0.65% (95% CI: −1.53 to 0.23%), respectively per IQR increase in UFP], but did not persist in two-pollutant models with NO2 or PM2.5. Conclusions Long-term exposure to sulfur in PM10 may result in lower FEV1 at age 16. There is no evidence for an independent effect of UFP exposure.