• Mary B Rice, Sheryl L Rifas-Shiman, Augusto A Litonjua, Emily Oken, Matthew W Gillman, Itai Kloog, Heike Luttmann-Gibson, Antonella Zanobetti, Brent A Coull, Joel Schwartz, Petros Koutrakis, Murray A Mittl... more eman, and Diane R Gold. less
• 1 Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine.
• Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 2016 Apr 15; 193 (8): 881888881-8.

RationaleFew studies have examined associations between exposure to air pollution and childhood lung function after implementation of strict air quality regulations in the 1990s.ObjectivesTo assess traffic-related pollution exposure and childhood lung function.MethodsWe geocoded addresses for 614 mother-child pairs enrolled during pregnancy in the Boston area 1999-2002 and followed them until a mid-childhood visit (median age, 7.7). We calculated the proximity of the home to the nearest major roadway. We estimated first year of life, lifetime, and prior-year exposure to particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) by a hybrid model using satellite-derived aerosol optical depth, and to black carbon (BC) by a land-use regression model.Measurements And Main ResultsResidential proximity to roadway and prior-year and lifetime PM2.5 and BC exposure were all associated with lower FVC. Associations with FEV1 were also negative and proportionally similar. Pollution exposures were not associated with the FEV1/FVC ratio or bronchodilator response. Compared with distances greater than or equal to 400 m, living less than 100 m from a major roadway was associated with lower FVC (-98.6 ml; -176.3 to -21.0). Each 2 μg/m(3) increment in prior-year PM2.5 was associated with lower FVC (-21.8 ml; -43.9 to 0.2) and higher odds of FEV1 less than 80% predicted (1.41; 1.03-1.93). Each 0.2 μg/m(3) increment in prior-year BC was associated with a 38.9 ml (-70.4 to -7.3) lower FVC.ConclusionsEstimates of long-term exposure to ambient pollution, including proximity to major roadway, PM2.5, and BC (a traffic-related PM2.5 constituent), were associated with lower lung function in this Boston-area cohort of children with relatively low pollution exposures.

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