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| Research article summary (published 30 Jan 2003): |
Effect of air pollution on peak expiratory flow rate variability.
Full Abstract
Exposure to air pollution affects pulmonary functions adversely. Effect of exposure to pollution on diurnal variation of peak flow was assessed in healthy students. Three hundred healthy age-matched nonsmoker students were studied. They were categorized into two groups on the basis of their residence:
commuters and living on campus. Peak expiratory flow (PEF) recordings were made twice daily for 2 days with the Pink City Flow Meter. The measurement was then used to calculate for each subject the amplitude percentage mean, which is an index for expressing PEF variability for epidemiological purposes (Higgins BG, Britton JR, Chinns Jones TD, Jenkinson D, Burnery PG, Tattersfield AE. Distribution of peak expiratory flow variability in a population sample. Am Rev Respir Dis 1989; 140:1368-1372). Air pollution parameters were quantified by measurement of sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) in the ambient air at the campus and on the roadside. The mean values of PEF variability (amplitude percent mean) in the students living on campus and in the commuters were 5.7 +/- 3.2 and 11 +/- 3.6, respectively (P < .05). Among the commuters, maximum number of subjects showed amplitude percentage mean PEFR at the higher end of variability distribution, as compared to the students living on campus, among whom the majority of subjects fell in the lower ranges of variability distribution. The ambient air quality parameters, namely SO2, NO2, CO, and RSPM were significantly lower on the campus. It can be concluded that long-term periodic exposure to air pollution can lead to increased PEF variability even in healthy subjects. Measurement of PEF variability may prove to be a simple test to measure effect of air pollution in healthy subjects.
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Author information
Author/s: Singh, Virendra (V); Khandelwal, Rakesh (R); Gupta, A B (AB);
Affiliation: Pulmonary Division, Department of Medicine, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, India. drvirendrasingh(-atsign-)yahoo.com
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Journal Article
Journal: The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma (J Asthma), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2003-Feb; vol 40 (issue 1) : pp 81-6
Dates: Created 2003/04/17; Completed 2003/05/16; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 12699215, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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