Center for Environmental Health, New York State Department of Health, Flanigan Square, 547 River Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
Lung. 2011 Aug;189(4):295-303. doi: 10.1007/s00408-011-9307-2. Epub 2011 Jun 12.
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether underlying respiratory disease may be revealed by offline fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FE(NO)) testing among a cohort of New York State (NYS) World Trade Center (WTC) responders in comparison with a control group of similar but unexposed NYS employees, 6 years post-9/11. Participants (92 exposed, 141 unexposed) provided two breath samples that were collected in Mylar bags and sent to a central laboratory for FE(NO) testing. Participants also completed a brief questionnaire. Ambient air pollution was characterized using particulate matter (PM(2.5)) and ozone concentration data from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation air-monitoring sites closest to each testing site for each day of sample collection. WTC exposure did not appear to be associated with elevated FE(NO) concentrations. FE(NO) concentrations were higher on days with elevated levels of PM(2.5) (≥ 35 μg/m³) and ozone (≥ 0.08 ppm). FE(NO) concentrations were higher in men and lower in smokers. Our results do not suggest an association between WTC exposure and elevated FE(NO) concentrations, 6 years post-9/11, in this moderately exposed cohort of responders. Results do suggest that FE(NO) concentrations were elevated in relation to higher levels of ambient air pollutants. Our results also offer useful reference values for future research involving FE(NO) testing. This study demonstrates that offline FE(NO) testing is a useful method for epidemiological studies requiring collection of samples in the field, potentially over a broad geographic area.
本研究旨在评估在纽约州（NYS）世界贸易中心（WTC） responder 队列中，离线呼出气一氧化氮（FE（NO））检测是否可以揭示潜在的呼吸道疾病，与具有相似但未暴露于 9/11 事件的 NYS 员工对照组进行比较。参与者（92 名暴露组，141 名未暴露组）提供了两个呼吸样本，这些样本被收集在聚酯薄膜袋中，并被送到一个中央实验室进行 FE（NO）检测。参与者还完成了一份简短的问卷。环境空气污染特征采用 NYS 环境保护部空气监测站点的颗粒物（PM（2.5））和臭氧浓度数据来描述，这些站点距离每个采样点最近。暴露于 WTC 似乎与 FE（NO）浓度升高无关。FE（NO）浓度在 PM（2.5）（≥35μg/m³）和臭氧（≥0.08ppm）水平升高的日子更高。FE（NO）浓度在男性中较高，在吸烟者中较低。我们的结果表明，在 9/11 事件后 6 年，在这个中度暴露的 responder 队列中，WTC 暴露与 FE（NO）浓度升高之间没有关联。结果表明，FE（NO）浓度与较高水平的环境空气污染物有关。我们的结果还为未来涉及 FE（NO）检测的研究提供了有用的参考值。这项研究表明，离线 FE（NO）检测是一种有用的方法，可用于需要在现场采集样本的流行病学研究，可能需要在广泛的地理区域进行。
