Short-term exposure to PM2.5 components and renal health: Findings from the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study

There is little evidence on the short-term impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) on renal health, and the potential interactions and various influences of PM2.5 components on renal health have not been examined. We investigated whether short-term (<= 28 days) ambient PM2.5 and 15 PM2.5 components were associated with serum uric acid (SUA), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and odds of incident chronic kidney disease (CKD) using both mixed-effect and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) models in the Normative Aging Study. This analysis included 2466 study visits from 808 older males enrolled during 1998-2016 with available data. BKMR showed positive relationships of PM2.5 mixture with SUA and odds of CKD, and an inverse relationship with eGFR. In the 28-day exposure window, an interquartile range (IQR) increase in vanadium was associated with a 0.244-mg/dL higher SUA. IQR increases in sulfur and lead were associated with a 1.281- and 1.008-mL/min/1.73 m(2) decrease in eGFR, respectively. The same change in sulfur was also associated with a 39% higher odds of CKD. Our findings provide solid evidence supporting short-term adverse effects of PM2.5 on renal health and further highlight that components from oil combustion and regional pollution may be major contributors.

Automated summary

The study found that PM2.5 has short-term negative effects on renal health, with components from oil combustion and regional pollution potentially being major contributors.