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Effects of fine particulate on heart rate variability in Beijing: a panel study of healthy elderly subjects

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the effects of ambient fine particulate (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less, PM2.5) exposure within several minutes on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) of the healthy elderly subjects in the general environments (indoor and outdoor).

Methods

This study is conducted by measuring the real-time indoor and outdoor exposure variables (PM2.5, Temperature, and relative humidity) and heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of cardiac autonomic function measured by 24-h ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring in a panel of 30 healthy elderly subjects in Beijing. Associations between personal 5-min PM2.5 concentrations and concurrent 5-min HRV frequency indices are investigated using the mixed linear model.

Results

High Frequency (HF) and Low Frequency (LF) increase, respectively by 1.30% (95% CI, 0.16–2.45%) and 1.34% (95% CI, 0.38–2.30%) per 10 μg/m3 increases of PM2.5 in the polled data analysis after the potential confounders are adjusted. When the indoor and outdoor periods are separated, positive associations are found between PM2.5 and HRV when the subjects are indoors; however, there is no association when the subjects are outdoors.

Conclusions

We conclude that PM2.5 exposure within several minutes leads to increases of HRV of the healthy older subjects, which may increase the cardiac risks. Prominent effect of PM2.5 on HRV is found when they are indoors, while the effect is not obvious in outdoor environment.

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Abbreviations

AIC:

Akaike’s information criteria

ANS:

Autonomic nervous system

μg/m3 :

Micrograms per cubic meter

BMI:

Body mass index

CI:

Confidence interval

ECG:

Electrocardiogram

HF:

High frequency

HRV:

Heart rate variability

kg/m2 :

Body weight in kilograms divided by height in square meters

LF:

Low frequency

LFHFR:

Low-frequency/high-frequency ratio

L/min:

Liters per minute

msec2 :

square millisecond

PM2.5 :

Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm

RH:

Relative humidity

SD:

Standard deviation

SE:

Standard error

Temp:

Temperature

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all of the participating subjects and Juan Zhang for conducting the HRV measurements. This study was supported by Grants from the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China (No. 2006BAI19B06) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81072267).

Conflict of interest

All authors declare they have no potential competing financial interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Peking University School of Public Health, 38 Xueyuan Road, 100191, Beijing, China

    Xiaofeng Jia, Xiaoming Song, Furong Deng & Xinbiao Guo

  2. Hyogo College of Medicine, Nishinomiya, Japan

    Masayuki Shima

  3. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan

    Kenji Tamura

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  1. Xiaofeng Jia
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  2. Xiaoming Song
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  3. Masayuki Shima
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  4. Kenji Tamura
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  5. Furong Deng
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  6. Xinbiao Guo
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Correspondence to Xinbiao Guo.

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Jia, X., Song, X., Shima, M. et al. Effects of fine particulate on heart rate variability in Beijing: a panel study of healthy elderly subjects. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 85, 97–107 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0646-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-011-0646-3

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