Relationship between air pollution exposure and systemic inflammation in Canada

Research has shown that plausible links between air pollution exposure and both atherosclerosis and diabetes may exist through systemic inflammation. This present study quantified the association between particulate matter less than 2.5 μm and nitrogen dioxide with four biomarkers of inflammation (CRP, fibrinogen, white blood cells, and platelets) in a cross-sectional sample representative of the Canadian population aged between 18 and 79 (N=6322) from cycle 1 and 2 (2007-2012) of the Canadian Health Measures Survey. After adjusting for race, household income and temperature, results showed that daily and annual NO2 was inversely associated with fibrinogen and the associations were slightly stronger among those taking statins, although not clinically significant. Although our results did not support our hypothesis, our findings raise new questions about other possible health effects behind the association between NO2 exposure and fibrinogen.