Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Asthma exacerbation is associated with particulate matter source factors in children in New York City

  • Published:
Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is linked with asthma exacerbation; however, the role played by specific PM sources is not well understood. Our objective was to investigate the associations between daily cough and wheeze symptoms in a panel of asthmatic children and PM source factors determined by receptor modeling using positive matrix factorization (PMF). We studied 36 children with moderate-to-severe asthma in New York City over both a warm and a cold season. Exposure to ambient air pollutants, including PM2.5 elements and elemental and organic carbon fractions, was characterized. The mean ambient PM2.5 concentration for the study periods was 12.0 ± 6.7 μg/m3. Six factors were resolved using PMF, including oil, road dust, ships, regional, salt, and traffic. When adjusted for ozone, cough and wheeze symptoms were most strongly associated with the regional and salt factors. Results using tracer elements (as determined from PMF analyses) showed some inconsistency, with two tracers for road dust (K and Si) showing associations in opposite directions to each other. Positive associations were also observed for S, which is a tracer of regional PM. Significant negative associations were observed for the oil factor and one of its tracers (Zn). Mostly nonsignificant associations were found for carbon fractions, with the exception of pyrolized carbon and two elemental carbon fractions. Our results indicate that asthma symptoms are associated with regional and salt factors. In this study, the regional factor was comprised of sulfate as well as carbon-containing PM, the latter which is likely derived from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

EC:

Elemental carbon

OC:

Organic carbon

PM2.5 :

Particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm

PMF:

Positive matrix factorization

References

  • Almeida SM, Silva AI, Freitas MC, Dzung HM, Caseiro A, Pio CA (2013) Impact of maritime air mass trajectories on the western European coast urban aerosol. J Toxicol Environ Health A 76:252–262

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen ZJ, Wahlin P, Raaschou-Nielsen O, Scheike T, Loft S (2007) Ambient particle source apportionment and daily hospital admissions among children and elderly in Copenhagen. J Expos Sci Environ Epidemiol 17:625–636

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen LC, Hwang JS, Lall R, Thurston G, Lippmann M (2010) Alteration of cardiac function in ApoE–/– mice by subchronic urban and regional inhalation exposure to concentrated ambient PM2.5. Inhal Toxicol 22(7):580–592

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dales R, Chen L, Frescura AM, Liu L, Villeneuve PJ (2009) Acute effects of outdoor air pollution on forced expiratory volume in 1 s: a panel study of schoolchildren with asthma. Eur Respir J 34:316–323

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Delfino RJ, Staimer N, Tjoa T, Gillen D, Kleinman MT, Sioutas C, Coopers D (2008) Personal and ambient air pollution exposures and lung function decrements in children with asthma. Environ Health Perspect 116:550–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demokritou P, Kavouras I, Harrison D, Koutrakis P (2001) Development and evaluation of an impactor for a PM2.5 speciation sampler. J Air Waste Manage Assoc 51(4):514–523

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gent JF, Koutrakis P, Belanger K, Triche E, Holford TR, Bracken MB, Leaderer BP (2009) Symptoms and medication use in children with asthma and traffic-related sources of fine particle pollution. Environ Health Perspect 117:1168–1174

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Habre R, Moshier E, Castro W, Nath A, Grunin A, Rohr AC, Godbold J, Schachter N, Kattan M, Coull B, Koutrakis P (2013) The effects of PM2.5 of outdoor and indoor origin and ozone on cough and wheeze symptoms in asthmatic children in New York City. doi:10.1038/jes.2013.74

  • Halonen JI, Lanki T, Yli-Tuomi T, Tiittanen P, Kulmala M, Pekkanen J (2009) Particulate air pollution and acute cardiorespiratory hospital admissions and mortality among the elderly. Epidemiology 20:143–153

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huffmann GP, Huggins FE, Shah N, Huggins R, Linak WP, Miller CA, Pugmire RJ, Meuzelaar HL, Seehra MS, Manivannan A (2000) Characterization of fine particulate matter produced by combustion of residual fuel oil. J Air Waste Manag Assoc 50:1106–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ito K, Xue N, Thurston G (2004) Spatial variation of PM2.5 chemical species and source-apportioned mass concentrations in New York City. Atmos Environ 38:5269–5282

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jamason PF, Kalkstein LS, Gergen PJ (1997) A synoptic evaluation of asthma hospital admissions in New York City. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 156:1781–1788

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kamal AS, Rohr AC, Mukherjee B, Morishita M, Keeler GJ, Harkema JR, Wagner JG (2011) PM2.5-induced changes in cardiac function of hypertensive rats depend on wind direction and specific sources in Steubenville, Ohio. Inhal Toxicol 23:417–430

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kattan M, Crain EF, Steinbach S, Visness CM, Walter M, Stout JW, Evans R 3rd, Smartt E, Gruchalla RS, Morgan WJ, O'Connor GT, Mitchell HE (2006) A randomized clinical trial of clinician feedback to improve quality of care for inner-city children with asthma. Pediatrics 117(6):1095–1103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelly FJ, Fussell JC (2012) Size, source and chemical composition as determinants of toxicity attributable to ambient particulate matter. Atmos Environ 60:504–526

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lall R, Ito K, Thurston GD (2011) Distributed lag analyses of daily hospital admissions and source-apportioned fine particle air pollution. Environ Health Perspect 119:455–460

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Z, Hopke PK, Husain L, Qureshi S, Dutkiewicz VA, Schwab JJ, Drewnick F, Demerjian KL (2004) Source of fine particle composition in New York City. Atmos Environ 38:6521–6529

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lippmann M, Chen LC (2009) Health effects of concentrated ambient air particulate matter (CAPs) and its components. Crit Rev Toxicol 39:865–913

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lippmann M, Ito K, Hwang JS, Maciejczyk P, Chen LC (2006) Cardiovascular effects of nickel in ambient air. Environ Health Perspect 114:1662–1669

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (2008) New York City vital signs, February 2008. http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/survey/survey-2008asthma.pdf.

  • Norris G, Vedantham R, Wade K, Brown S, Prouty J, Foley C (2008) EPA positive matrix factorization (PMF) 3.0 fundamentals & user guide, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Washington DC

  • Paatero P (1997) Least square formulation of robust nonnegative factor analysis. Chemom Intell Lab Syst 37:23–35

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Paatero P, Tapper, U (1994) Positive matrix factorization: a nonnegative factor model with optimal utilization of error estimates of data values. Environmetrics 5:111–126

    Google Scholar 

  • Park MM, O'Neill MS, Stunder BJ, Vokonas PS, Sparrow D, Koutrakis P, Schwartz J (2007) Source location of air pollution and cardiac autonomic function: trajectory cluster analysis for exposure assessment. J Exp Sci Environ Epidemiol 17:488–497

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Patel MM, Hoepner L, Garfinkel R, Chillrud S, Reyes A, Quinn JW, Perera F, Miller RL (2009) Ambient metals, elemental carbon, and wheeze and cough in New York City children through 24 months of age. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 180:1107–1113

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Patel MM, Chillrud SN, Correa JC, Hazi Y, Feinberg M, Prakash S, Ross JM, Levy D, Kinney PL (2010) Traffic-related particulate matter and acute respiratory symptoms among New York City area adolescents. Environ Health Perspect 118:1338–1343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peltier RE, Lippmann M (2010) Residual oil combustion: 2. Distributions of airborne nickel and vanadium. J Exp Sci Environ Epidemiol 20:342–350

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Penttinen P, Vallius M, Tiittanen P, Ruuskanen J, Pekkanen J (2006) Source-specific fine particles in urban air and respiratory function among adult asthmatics. Inhal Toxicol 18:191–198

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pio CA, Lopes DA (1998) Chlorine loss from marine aerosol in a coastal atmosphere. J Geophys Res 103:25263–25272

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Qin Y, Kim E, Hopke PK (2006) The concentrations and sources of PM2.5 in metropolitan New York City. Atmos Environ 40:S312–S332

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rohr AC, Wyzga RE (2012) Attributing health effects to individual particulate matter constituents. Atmos Environ 62:130–152

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rohr AC, Kamal A, Morishita M, Mukherjee B, Keeler GJ, Harkema JR, Wagner JG (2011) Altered heart rate variability in spontaneously hypertensive rats is associated with specific particulate matter components in Detroit, Michigan. Environ Health Perspect 119:474–480

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sahu M, Hu S, Ryan PH, Le Masters G, Grinshpun SA, Chow JC et al (2011) Chemical compositions and source identification of PM2.5 aerosols for estimation of a diesel source surrogate. Sci Total Environ 409:2642–2651

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sarnat JA, Marmur A, Klein M, Kim E, Russell AG, Sarnat SE et al (2008) Fine particle sources and cardiorespiratory morbidity: an application of chemical mass balance and factor analytical source apportionment methods. Environ Health Perspect 116:459–466

    Google Scholar 

  • Silverman RA, Ito K (2010) Age-related association of fine particles and ozone with severe acute asthma in New York City. J Allergy Clin Immunol 125:367–373

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Spira-Cohen A, Chen LC, Kendall M, Lall R, Thurston GD (2011) Personal exposures to traffic-related air pollution and acute respiratory health among Bronx schoolchildren with asthma. Environ Health Perspect 119:559–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verma V, Polidori A, Schauer JJ, Shafter MM, Cassee FR, Sioutas C (2009) Physicochemical and toxicological profiles of particulate matter in Los Angeles during the October 2007 southern California wildfires. Environ Sci Technol 43:954–60

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute (EP-P15909/C7932). We would like to thank Tom Gentile, George O'Connor, and Lance Wallace for participating in the project Scientific Advisory Committee and for their valuable guidance during the course of this research. Dr. Rohr is employed by the Electric Power Research Institute, which is primarily supported by the electric industry in the USA and abroad. EPRI is an independent nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that funds external research at a number of universities and institutes worldwide. Other authors declare no other conflicts of interest, personal, financial, or otherwise, with the material presented in the manuscript.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Avi Grunin

    Present address: Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Boston, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Annette C. Rohr

  2. Harvard University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Rima Habre, Brent Coull & Petros Koutrakis

  3. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    James Godbold, Erin Moshier, Neil Schachter, Avi Grunin & Amit Nath

  4. Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Meyer Kattan

  5. Electric Power Research Institute, 16541 Redmond Way #176C, Redmond, WA, 98052, USA

    Annette C. Rohr

Authors
  1. Annette C. Rohr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rima Habre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. James Godbold
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Erin Moshier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Neil Schachter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Meyer Kattan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Avi Grunin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Amit Nath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Brent Coull
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Petros Koutrakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Annette C. Rohr.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplemental Table S-1

(DOCX 19 kb)

Supplemental Table S-2

(DOCX 15 kb)

Supplemental Table S-3

Correlation matrix for PM components (XLSX 19 kb)

Figure S-1

(DOCX 183 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rohr, A.C., Habre, R., Godbold, J. et al. Asthma exacerbation is associated with particulate matter source factors in children in New York City. Air Qual Atmos Health 7, 239–250 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-013-0230-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-013-0230-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation