Assessment of long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution: An exposure framework.

Background: Exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with morbidity and mortality, making it an important public health concern. Emissions from motorized traffic are a common source of air pollution but evaluating the contribution of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) emissions to health risks is challenging because it is difficult to disentangle the contribution of individual air pollution sources to exposure contrasts in an epidemiological study.

Objective: This paper describes a new framework to identify whether air pollution differences reflect contrasts in TRAP exposures.

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution and persistent postpartum depression.

Background: Ambient air pollution during pregnancy has been linked with postpartum depression up to 12 months, but few studies have investigated its impact on persistent depression beyond 12 months postpartum. This study aimed to evaluate prenatal ambient air pollution exposure and the risk of persistent depression over 3 years after childbirth and to identify windows of susceptibility.

Methods: This study included 361 predominantly low-income Hispanic/Latina participants with full-term pregnancies in the Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) cohort.

Prenatal and Early Life Exposure to Ambient Air Pollutants Is Associated with the Fecal Metabolome in the First Two Years of Life.

Prenatal and early life air pollution exposure has been linked with several adverse health outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying these relationships are not yet fully understood. Therefore, this study utilizes fecal metabolomics to determine if pre- and postnatal exposure to ambient air pollutants (i.

Joint effects of traffic-related air pollution and hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on maternal postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Background: Ambient air pollution has been linked to postpartum depression. However, few studies have investigated the effects of traffic-related NO on postpartum depression and whether any pregnancy-related factors might increase susceptibility.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between traffic-related NO and postpartum depressive and anxiety symptoms, and effect modification by pregnancy-related hypertension.

Prenatal air pollution exposure is associated with inflammatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic biomarkers in mothers and newborns.

Background: Prenatal air pollution exposure has been associated with individual inflammatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic biomarkers in mothers and neonates. However, studies of air pollution and a comprehensive panel of biomarkers across maternal and cord blood samples remain limited. Few studies used data-driven methods to identify biomarker groupings that converge biomarkers from multiple biological pathways.

Increased Risk of Gestational Hypertension by Periconceptional Exposure to Ambient Air Pollution and Effect Modification by Prenatal Depression.

Background: Air pollution has been associated with gestational hypertension (GH) and preeclampsia, but susceptible windows of exposure and potential vulnerability by comorbidities, such as prenatal depression, remain unclear.

Methods: We ascertained GH and preeclampsia cases in a prospective pregnancy cohort in Los Angeles, CA. Daily levels of ambient particulate matters (with a diameter of ≤10 μm [PM] or ≤2.

Preconceptional and prenatal exposure to air pollutants and risk of gestational diabetes in the MADRES prospective pregnancy cohort study.

Background: Air pollution has been associated with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We aim to investigate susceptible windows of air pollution exposure and factors determining population vulnerability.

Methods: We ascertained GDM status in the prospective Maternal and Developmental Risks from Environmental and Social Stressors (MADRES) pregnancy cohort from Los Angeles, California, USA.

Prenatal ambient air pollution exposure and child weight trajectories from the 3rd trimester of pregnancy to 2 years of age: a cohort study.

Background: Prenatal air pollution exposure may increase risk for childhood obesity. However, few studies have evaluated in utero growth measures and infant weight trajectories. This study will evaluate the associations of prenatal exposure to ambient air pollutants with weight trajectories from the 3rd trimester through age 2 years.

Long-Term Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

We report results of a systematic review on the health effects of long-term traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) and diabetes in the adult population. An expert Panel appointed by the Health Effects Institute conducted this systematic review. We searched the PubMed and LUDOK databases for epidemiological studies from 1980 to July 2019.

Metabolic pathways altered by air pollutant exposure in association with lipid profiles in young adults.

Mounting evidence suggests that air pollution influences lipid metabolism and dyslipidemia. However, the metabolic mechanisms linking air pollutant exposure and altered lipid metabolism is not established. In year 2014-2018, we conducted a cross-sectional study on 136 young adults in southern California, and assessed lipid profiles (triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol), and untargeted serum metabolomics using liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry, and one-month and one-year averaged exposures to NO, O, PM and PM air pollutants at residential addresses.

Associations between prenatal and early-life air pollution exposure and lung function in young children: Exploring influential windows of exposure on lung development.

Background: Evidence in the literature suggests that air pollution exposures experienced prenatally and early in life can be detrimental to normal lung development, however the specific timing of critical windows during development is not fully understood.

Objectives: We evaluated air pollution exposures during the prenatal and early-life period in association with lung function at ages 6-9, in an effort to identify potentially influential windows of exposure for lung development.

Methods: Our study population consisted of 222 children aged 6-9 from the Fresno-Clovis metro area in California with spirometry data collected between May 2015 and May 2017.

Associations of Autism Spectrum Disorder with PM Components: A Comparative Study Using Two Different Exposure Models.

This retrospective cohort study examined associations of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with prenatal exposure to major fine particulate matter (PM) components estimated using two independent exposure models. The cohort included 318 750 mother-child pairs with singleton deliveries in Kaiser Permanente Southern California hospitals from 2001 to 2014 and followed until age five. ASD cases during follow-up ( = 4559) were identified by ICD codes.

Identifying pre-conception and pre-natal periods in which ambient air pollution exposure affects fetal growth in the predominately Hispanic MADRES cohort.

Background: It is well documented that persons of color experience disproportionate exposure to environmental contaminants, including air pollution, and have poorer pregnancy outcomes. This study assessed the critical windows of exposure to ambient air pollution on in utero fetal growth among structurally marginalized populations in urban Los Angeles.

Methods: Participants (N = 281) from the larger ongoing MADRES pregnancy cohort study were included in this analysis.

Association Between Ambient Air Pollution and Birth Weight by Maternal Individual- and Neighborhood-Level Stressors.

Importance: Fetal growth is precisely programmed and could be interrupted by environmental exposures during specific times during pregnancy. Insights on potential sensitive windows of air pollution exposure in association with birth weight are needed.

Objective: To examine the association of sensitive windows of ambient air pollution exposure with birth weight and heterogeneity by individual- and neighborhood-level stressors.

Independent associations of short- and long-term air pollution exposure with COVID-19 mortality among Californians.

The growing literature demonstrating air pollution associations on COVID-19 mortality contains studies predominantly examining long-term exposure, with few on short-term exposure, and rarely both together to estimate independent associations. Because mechanisms by which air pollution may impact COVID-19 mortality risk function over timescales ranging from years to days, and given correlation among exposure time windows, consideration of both short- and long-term exposure is of importance. We assessed the independent associations between COVID-19 mortality rates with short- and long-term air pollution exposure by modeling both concurrently.

Ambient Air Pollutant Exposures and COVID-19 Severity and Mortality in a Cohort of Patients with COVID-19 in Southern California.

Ecological studies have shown air pollution associations with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outcomes. However, few cohort studies have been conducted. To conduct a cohort study investigating the association between air pollution and COVID-19 severity using individual-level data from the electronic medical record.

Increases in ambient air pollutants during pregnancy are linked to increases in methylation of IL4, IL10, and IFNγ.

Background: Ambient air pollutant (AAP) exposure is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as preeclampsia, preterm labor, and low birth weight. Previous studies have shown methylation of immune genes associate with exposure to air pollutants in pregnant women, but the cell-mediated response in the context of typical pregnancy cell alterations has not been investigated. Pregnancy causes attenuation in cell-mediated immunity with alterations in the Th1/Th2/Th17/Treg environment, contributing to maternal susceptibility.

Transcriptomic and metabolomic associations with exposures to air pollutants among young adults with childhood asthma history.

Ambient air pollutants are well-known risk factors for childhood asthma and asthma exacerbation. It is unknown whether different air pollutants individually or jointly affect pathophysiological mechanisms of asthma. In this study, we aim to integrate transcriptome and untargeted metabolome to identify dysregulated genetic and metabolic pathways that are associated with exposures to a mixture of ambient and traffic-related air pollutants among adults with asthma history.

Ambient air pollution and COVID-19 incidence during four 2020-2021 case surges.

Background: Air pollution exposure may make people more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection. However, previous studies in this area mostly focused on infection before May 2020 and long-term exposure.

Objective: To assess both long-term and short-term exposure to air pollution and COVID-19 incidence across four case surges from 03/1/2020 to 02/28/2021.

Human Serum Albumin Cys34 Adducts in Newborn Dried Blood Spots: Associations With Air Pollution Exposure During Pregnancy.

Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to air pollution during pregnancy is associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, biomarkers associated with air pollution exposure are widely lacking and often transient. In addition, ascertaining biospecimens during pregnacy to assess the prenatal environment remains largely infeasible.

Prenatal ambient air pollution and maternal depression at 12 months postpartum in the MADRES pregnancy cohort.

Background: Depression is the leading cause of mental health-related morbidity and affects twice as many women as men. Hispanic/Latina women in the US have unique risk factors for depression and they have lower utilization of mental health care services. Identifying modifiable risk factors for maternal depression, such as ambient air pollution, is an urgent public health priority.