Ambient Air Pollutants and Traffic Factors Were Associated with Blood and Urine Biomarkers and Asthma Risk

The UK Biobank (UKBB) is a large population-based cohort that provides a unique opportunity to study theassociation between environmental exposure and biomarkers andto identify biomarkers as potential instruments for assessingexposure dose, health damage, and disease risks. On 462 063participants of European ancestry, we characterized the relation-ship of 38 disease-relevant biomarkers, asthma diagnosis, ambientpollution, traffic factors, and genetic background. The air pollutantexposure on the UKBB cohort was fairly low (e.g., mean PM2.5concentration at 10.0 mu g/m3). Nevertheless, 30 biomarkers were inassociation with at least one environmental factor; e.g., C-reactiveprotein levels were positively associated with NO (padj= 2.99x10-4), NO2(padj= 4.15x10-4), and PM2.5(padj= 1.92x10-6) evenafter multiple testing adjustment. Asthma diagnosis was associated with four pollutants (NO, NO2,PM2.5, and PM10). The largesteffect size was observed in PM2.5, where a 5 mu g/m3increment of exposure was associated with a 1.52 increase in asthma diagnosis (p= 4.41x10-13). Further, environmental exposure and genetic predisposition influenced biomarker levels and asthma diagnosis in anadditive model. The exposure-biomarker associations identified in this study could serve as potential indicators for environmentalexposure induced health damages. Our results also shed light on possible mechanisms whereby environmental exposure influencesdisease-causing biomarkers and in turn increases disease risk.

Automated summary

The UK Biobank is a large cohort study that provides an opportunity to study the association between environmental exposure and biomarkers, and identify potential tools for assessing health damage and disease risk. The study found associations between 30 biomarkers and environmental factors, and a correlation between asthma diagnosis and four pollutants. Additionally, the study showed that environmental exposure and genetic predisposition have an additive effect on biomarker levels and asthma diagnosis.