The Acute Effects of Fine Particulate Matter Constituents on Blood Inflammation and Coagulation

Limited evidence is available on the effects of various fine particulate matter (PM2.5) constituents on blood inflammation and coagulation. We examined the associations between 10 constituents and 10 circulating biomarkers in a panel of 28 urban residents with four repeated measurements in Shanghai, China. Based on the linear mixed-effect models, we fitted the single-constituent models, the constituent-PM2.5 joint models, and the constituent-residual models to evaluate the associations between PM2.5 constituents and eight inflammatory biomarkers (fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1b, intercellular adhesion molecule-1, P-selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1) and two coagulation biomarkers (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and soluble CD40 ligand). We found robust associations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), nitrate (NO3-), and ammonium (NH4+) with at least 1 of 8 inflammatory markers. On average, an interquartile range increase in the four constituents corresponded to increments of 50%, 37%, 25%, and 26% in inflammatory biomarkers, respectively. Only sulfate (SO42-) or NH4+ was robustly associated with coagulation markers (corresponding increments: 23% and 20%). Our results provided evidence that some constituents in PM2.5 (OC, EC, NO3-, SO42-, and NH4+) might play crucial roles in inducing systematic inflammation and coagulation, but their roles varied by the selected biomarkers.