| Effects of Ozone and Other Pollutants on the Pulmonary Function of Adult Hikers Susan A. Korrick,
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Lucas M. Neas,
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Douglas W. Dockery,
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Diane R. Gold,
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George A. Allen,
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L. Bruce Hill,
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Kenneth D. Kimball,
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Bernard A. Rosner,
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and Frank E. Speizer
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Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 USA
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Department of Environmental Health; and
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Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115 USA
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Research Department, Appalachian Mountian Club, Gorham, NH 03581 USA
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Department of Biostatistics, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115 USA Abstract
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Description / Credits This study evaluated the acute effects of ambient ozone (O 3 ) , fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) , and strong aerosol acidity on the pulmonary function of exercising adults. During the summers of 1991 and 1992, volunteers (18-64 years of age) were solicited from hikers on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire. Volunteer nonsmokers with complete covariates ( n = 530) had pulmonary function measured before and after their hikes. We calculated each hiker's posthike percentage change in forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV 1 ) , forced vital capacity (FVC) , the ratio of these two (FEV 1 /FVC) , forced expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of FVC (FEF 25-75% ) , and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) . Average O 3 exposures ranged from 21 to 74 ppb. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking status (former versus never) , history of asthma or wheeze, hours hiked, ambient temperature, and other covariates, there was a 2.6% decline in FEV 1 [95% confidence interval (CI) , 0.4-4.7 ; p = 0.02] and a 2.2% decline in FVC (CI, 0.8-3.5 ; p = 0.003) for each 50 ppb increment in mean O 3 . There were consistent associations of decrements in both FVC (0.4% decline ; CI, 0.2-0.6, p = 0.001) and PEFR (0.8% decline ; CI, 0.01-1.6 ; p = 0.05) with PM 2.5 and of decrements in PEFR (0.4% decline ; CI, 0.1-0.7 ; p = 0.02) with strong aerosol acidity across the interquartile range of these exposures. Hikers with asthma or a history of wheeze ( n = 40) had fourfold greater responsiveness to ozone than others. With prolonged outdoor exercise, low-level exposures to O 3 , PM 2.5 , and strong aerosol acidity were associated with significant effects on pulmonary function among adults. Hikers with a history of asthma or wheeze had significantly greater air pollution-related changes in pulmonary function. Key words : aerosol acidity, air pollution, fine particulate matter, ozone, pulmonary function. Environ Health Perspect 106:93-99 (1998) . [Online 22 January 1998] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1998/106p93-99korrick/ abstract.html Address correspondence to S.A. Korrick, Channing Laboratory, 181 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 USA. The authors are indebted to the hikers who made this research possible. We are grateful to W. Manning for providing results of base ozone monitoring. The authors thank K. McGaffigan, M. Fay, and C. Wager for valuable computational support and the Harvard School of Public Health field data collection teams (S. Hanig, J. Cunningham, L. McClelland, and B. Phelps) and air monitoring staff (G. Magil) . We are particularly grateful to the Appalachian Mountain Club staff and research department (L. Rhines, J. Hammond, J. Doucette, and S. Peters) for their help. Additional thanks are due to the Mount Washington Observatory staff and the Mount Washington Auto Road for logistical support of the ozone monitoring activities. Presented in part at the annual meetings of the American Thoracic Society in 1993 and 1995. This work was supported in part by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Center grant ES00002, EPA Cooperative Agreement CR-821162, the Appalachian Mountain Club, and the White Mountain National Forest. S.A.K. was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (HL07427, ES05257, and ES05947) . Although the research described in this article was funded in part by the EPA, it has not been subject to agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the agency, and no official endorsement should be inferred. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use. Received 7 July 1997 ; accepted 26 September 1997.
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