The impact of breathing diesel exhaust fumes may be more severe for females than males, finds a study to be presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona.
The research was undertaken by Hemshekhar Mahadevappa, from the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada in collaboration with between two research groups led by Professor Neeloffer Mookherjee and Professor Chris Carlsten.
"We already know that there are sex differences in lung diseases such as asthma and respiratory infections. Our previous research showed that breathing diesel exhaust creates inflammation in the lungs and has an impact on how the body deals with respiratory infections. In this study, we wanted to look for any effects in the blood and how these differ in females and males," Mahadevappa told the Congress.
The study involved ten volunteers, five female and five male, who were all healthy non-smokers. Each volunteer spent four hours breathing filtered air and four hours breathing air containing diesel exhaust fumes at three different concentrations – 20, 50 and 150 micrograms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre – with a four-week break in between each exposure.
Volunteers donated blood samples 24 hours after each exposure and the researchers made detailed examinations of the volunteers' blood plasma. Using a well-established analysis technology called liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, the researchers looked for changes in the levels of different proteins following exposure to diesel exhaust and compared the changes in females and males.
Among the proteins that differed between females and males, were some that are known to play a role in inflammation, damage repair, blood clotting, cardiovascular disease and the immune system. Some of these differences became clearer when volunteers were exposed to the higher levels of diesel exhaust.
Professor Mookherjee explained: "These are preliminary findings, however they show that exposure to diesel exhaust has different effects in female bodies compared to male and that could indicate that air pollution is more dangerous for females than males.
"This is important as respiratory diseases such as asthma are known to effect females and males differently, with females more likely to suffer severe asthma that does not respond to treatments. Therefore, we need to know a lot more about how females and males respond to air pollution and what this means for preventing, diagnosing and treating their respiratory disease."
Professor Zorana Andersen, Chair of the European Respiratory Society Environment and Health Committee and not involved in the research, said: "We know that exposure to air pollution, especially diesel exhaust, is a major risk factor in diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. There is very little we can do as individuals to avoid beathing polluted air, so we need governments to set and enforce limits on air pollutants."
The study seeks to further understand how and why air pollution contributes to poor health as it offers some important insight into how the body reacts to diesel exhaust and how that may differ between females and males.
