Raz-Maman Carmel, Borochov-Greenberg Nili, Lefkowitz Rafael Y, Portnov Boris A
School of Environmental Science, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khushi Ave, Mt. Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel.
Israel Defense Forces, Medical Corps, Tel Has Homer, Ramat Gan, Israel.
Environ Monit Assess. 2025 Mar 20;197(4):439. doi: 10.1007/s10661-025-13871-4.
Most studies evaluating chronic ambient exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO) have used averages as the exclusive exposure metric. However, this approach may lead to an underestimation of potential health effects. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between ambient exposure to NO assessed by various metrics, and lung function in a cohort of healthy male youth. A cross-sectional analysis of 5,462 subjects was conducted using multivariate linear regression. Exposure to NO₂ was assessed by spatial interpolation using Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK). Five different exposure metrics were evaluated over two years, including average concentration, the number and intensity of exceedances of the 24-h NO World Health Organization air quality guideline (AQG), and the number and intensity of 1-h NO peaks. Lung function indices, including percent predicted forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of vital capacity (FEF), and FEV/FVC ratio, were assessed. The intensity of the 24-h AQG exceedances was associated with the largest reductions in FEV (-0.82%, 95% CI: -1.61%, -0.03%) and FVC (-1.03%, 95% CI: -1.86%, -0.20%), while FEF showed a significant decline only with the 1-h peak intensity metric (-2.78%, 95% CI: -5.02%, -0.54%). The study results support integrating diverse exposure metrics as part of NO chronic exposure assessment, as these metrics may capture a wider range of potential health effects that could be underestimated or overlooked when relying only on average concentrations.
大多数评估长期环境暴露于二氧化氮（NO₂）的研究都将平均值作为唯一的暴露指标。然而，这种方法可能会低估潜在的健康影响。本研究的目的是评估在一群健康男性青年中，通过各种指标评估的环境NO₂暴露与肺功能之间的关联。使用多元线性回归对5462名受试者进行了横断面分析。通过经验贝叶斯克里金法（EBK）进行空间插值来评估NO₂暴露。在两年内评估了五种不同的暴露指标，包括平均浓度、24小时NO超过世界卫生组织空气质量指南（AQG）的次数和强度，以及1小时NO峰值的次数和强度。评估了肺功能指标，包括一秒用力呼气量（FEV）占预计值的百分比、用力肺活量（FVC）、肺活量25%至75%之间的用力呼气流量（FEF）以及FEV/FVC比值。24小时AQG超标强度与FEV（-0.82%，95%CI：-1.61%，-0.03%）和FVC（-1.03%，95%CI：-1.86%，-0.20%）的最大降幅相关，而FEF仅在1小时峰值强度指标下出现显著下降（-2.78%，95%CI：-5.02%，-0.54%）。研究结果支持将多种暴露指标纳入NO₂慢性暴露评估，因为这些指标可能涵盖更广泛的潜在健康影响，而仅依赖平均浓度时这些影响可能会被低估或忽视。
