Jung Youn Soo, Chiang Simon, Athni Tejas S, Shah Janaki, McCurdy Kara, Yu Sophie E, Kariveda Rohith, Mitchell Margaret, Ruan Mengyuan, Zou Jonathan, Banerjee Mitali, Awan Zainab, Dey Tanujit, Nordgaard Curtis L, Allen Joseph G, Maxfield Alice, Roditi Rachel, Bergmark Regan, Nadeau Kari, Lee Stella E
Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Division of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 2;15(1):23555. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-81873-2.
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are relatively understudied pollutants compared to particulate matter but are ubiquitous in outdoor and indoor environments. Prior studies on VOCs on sinonasal health have been difficult to generalize due to limitations in their definitions of VOC exposures. We took a novel, holistic approach to characterize a major fraction of daily VOC exposure and its link to sinonasal health. Our study included 981 participants (mean ages = 58.8 years, ranges = 40-80 years) from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with available urinary VOC metabolites (mVOC) data. We used two unsupervised techniques to address the association between VOC exposure and sinonasal health outcomes. First, we applied factor analysis to identify the sources of urinary mVOCs. Logistic regression was employed to analyze associations between each source and sinonasal health questionnaires. Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection (UMAP) was used to identify and compare the exposure patterns in subgroups. Factor analysis found three likely sources of exposure: "household goods", "occupation contaminants", and "fuel emissions". Logistic regression showed that exposure to "household goods" was associated with a 22.2% higher likelihood of multiple sinus infections (p = 0.003), while "fuel emissions" were linked to a 16.4% increase (p = 0.026). UMAP identified subgroups where individuals with lower socioeconomic status, coupled with specific behavioral and lifestyle habits, may face an increased risk of VOC exposure and negative sinonasal health outcomes. Our findings provide evidence that usage of certain everyday goods, exposure to fuel emissions, and the characteristics of one's home and built environment could play a prominent role in an individual's overall VOC exposure and the manifestation of upper respiratory disease.
与颗粒物相比,挥发性有机化合物(VOCs)作为污染物相对较少受到研究,但在室外和室内环境中却普遍存在。先前关于VOCs对鼻窦健康影响的研究,由于在VOC暴露定义方面存在局限性,难以进行概括总结。我们采用了一种新颖的整体方法,来描述日常VOC暴露的主要部分及其与鼻窦健康的联系。我们的研究纳入了981名来自2013 - 2014年国家健康与营养检查调查(NHANES)的参与者(平均年龄 = 58.8岁,范围 = 40 - 80岁),他们有可用的尿VOC代谢物(mVOC)数据。我们使用了两种无监督技术来研究VOC暴露与鼻窦健康结果之间的关联。首先,我们应用因子分析来确定尿mVOCs的来源。采用逻辑回归分析每种来源与鼻窦健康问卷之间的关联。使用均匀流形逼近和投影(UMAP)来识别和比较亚组中的暴露模式。因子分析发现了三个可能的暴露来源:“家居用品”、“职业污染物”和“燃料排放”。逻辑回归显示,接触“家居用品”会使多次鼻窦感染的可能性增加22.2%(p = 0.003),而“燃料排放”则使感染可能性增加16.4%(p = 0.026)。UMAP识别出了一些亚组,在这些亚组中,社会经济地位较低且具有特定行为和生活方式习惯的个体,可能面临更高的VOC暴露风险和鼻窦健康不良后果。我们的研究结果表明,某些日常用品的使用、燃料排放暴露以及个人家庭和建筑环境的特征,可能在个体的总体VOC暴露和上呼吸道疾病表现中起重要作用。