Skip to main content
PMC home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 2000 Dec;57(12):818–822. doi: 10.1136/oem.57.12.818

Daily concentrations of air pollution and plasma fibrinogen in London

J Pekkanen 1, E Brunner 1, H Anderson 1, P Tiittanen 1, R Atkinson 1
PMCID: PMC1739901  PMID: 11077010

Abstract

OBJECTIVES—The reason for the association between air pollution and risk of cardiovascular diseases is unknown. The hypothesis was examined that daily concentrations of air pollution are associated with daily concentrations of fibrinogen, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
METHODS—Data on concentrations of plasma fibrinogen for 4982 male and 2223 female office workers, collected in a cross sectional survey in London between September 1991 and May 1993, were combined with data on concentrations of air pollution during the day of blood sampling and during the 3 preceding days.
RESULTS—After adjustment for weather and other confounding factors, an increase in the 24 hour mean NO2 during the previous day from the 10th to the 90th percentile (61.7 µg/m3) was associated with a 1.5% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.4% to 2.5%) higher fibrinogen concentration. The respective increase for CO (1.6 mg/m3) was 1.5% (95% CI 0.5%, 2.5%). These associations tended to be stronger in the warm season (April to September). Significant associations were found for black smoke and particulate matter of diameter 10 µm (PM10) only in the warm season. No association with fibrinogen was found for SO2 or ozone.
CONCLUSIONS—The short term association between air pollution, possibly from traffic, and risk of cardiovascular events may be at least partly mediated through increased concentrations of plasma fibrinogen, possibly due to an inflammatory reaction caused by air pollution.


Keywords: air pollution; fibrinogen; haemostatic factors

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (119.3 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Adams K. F., Koch G., Chatterjee B., Goldstein G. M., O'Neil J. J., Bromberg P. A., Sheps D. S. Acute elevation of blood carboxyhemoglobin to 6% impairs exercise performance and aggravates symptoms in patients with ischemic heart disease. J Am Coll Cardiol. 1988 Oct;12(4):900–909. doi: 10.1016/0735-1097(88)90452-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Allred E. N., Bleecker E. R., Chaitman B. R., Dahms T. E., Gottlieb S. O., Hackney J. D., Pagano M., Selvester R. H., Walden S. M., Warren J. Short-term effects of carbon monoxide exposure on the exercise performance of subjects with coronary artery disease. N Engl J Med. 1989 Nov 23;321(21):1426–1432. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198911233212102. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Anderson H. R., Ponce de Leon A., Bland J. M., Bower J. S., Strachan D. P. Air pollution and daily mortality in London: 1987-92. BMJ. 1996 Mar 16;312(7032):665–669. doi: 10.1136/bmj.312.7032.665. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bates D. V. Health indices of the adverse effects of air pollution: the question of coherence. Environ Res. 1992 Dec;59(2):336–349. doi: 10.1016/s0013-9351(05)80040-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brozovic M., Stirling Y., Harricks C., North W. R., Meade T. W. Factor VII in an industrial population. Br J Haematol. 1974 Nov;28(3):381–391. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1974.tb00819.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Brunner E., Davey Smith G., Marmot M., Canner R., Beksinska M., O'Brien J. Childhood social circumstances and psychosocial and behavioural factors as determinants of plasma fibrinogen. Lancet. 1996 Apr 13;347(9007):1008–1013. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(96)90147-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Burnett R. T., Cakmak S., Brook J. R., Krewski D. The role of particulate size and chemistry in the association between summertime ambient air pollution and hospitalization for cardiorespiratory diseases. Environ Health Perspect. 1997 Jun;105(6):614–620. doi: 10.1289/ehp.97105614. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. CLAUSS A. Gerinnungsphysiologische Schnellmethode zur Bestimmung des Fibrinogens. Acta Haematol. 1957 Apr;17(4):237–246. doi: 10.1159/000205234. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Danesh J., Collins R., Appleby P., Peto R. Association of fibrinogen, C-reactive protein, albumin, or leukocyte count with coronary heart disease: meta-analyses of prospective studies. JAMA. 1998 May 13;279(18):1477–1482. doi: 10.1001/jama.279.18.1477. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Dockery D. W., Pope C. A., 3rd, Xu X., Spengler J. D., Ware J. H., Fay M. E., Ferris B. G., Jr, Speizer F. E. An association between air pollution and mortality in six U.S. cities. N Engl J Med. 1993 Dec 9;329(24):1753–1759. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199312093292401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Health effects of outdoor air pollution. Committee of the Environmental and Occupational Health Assembly of the American Thoracic Society. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1996 Jan;153(1):3–50. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.153.1.8542133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Katsouyanni K., Karakatsani A., Messari I., Touloumi G., Hatzakis A., Kalandidi A., Trichopoulos D. Air pollution and cause specific mortality in Athens. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1990 Dec;44(4):321–324. doi: 10.1136/jech.44.4.321. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Marmot M. G., Smith G. D., Stansfeld S., Patel C., North F., Head J., White I., Brunner E., Feeney A. Health inequalities among British civil servants: the Whitehall II study. Lancet. 1991 Jun 8;337(8754):1387–1393. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(91)93068-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Meade T. W., Ruddock V., Stirling Y., Chakrabarti R., Miller G. J. Fibrinolytic activity, clotting factors, and long-term incidence of ischaemic heart disease in the Northwick Park Heart Study. Lancet. 1993 Oct 30;342(8879):1076–1079. doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(93)92062-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Morris R. D., Naumova E. N., Munasinghe R. L. Ambient air pollution and hospitalization for congestive heart failure among elderly people in seven large US cities. Am J Public Health. 1995 Oct;85(10):1361–1365. doi: 10.2105/ajph.85.10.1361. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Nevalainen J., Pekkanen J. The effect of particulate air pollution on life expectancy. Sci Total Environ. 1998 Jun 30;217(1-2):137–141. doi: 10.1016/s0048-9697(98)00172-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Pearson T. A., LaCava J., Weil H. F. Epidemiology of thrombotic-hemostatic factors and their associations with cardiovascular disease. Am J Clin Nutr. 1997 May;65(5 Suppl):1674S–1682S. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/65.5.1674S. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Peters A., Döring A., Wichmann H. E., Koenig W. Increased plasma viscosity during an air pollution episode: a link to mortality? Lancet. 1997 May 31;349(9065):1582–1587. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(97)01211-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Poloniecki J. D., Atkinson R. W., de Leon A. P., Anderson H. R. Daily time series for cardiovascular hospital admissions and previous day's air pollution in London, UK. Occup Environ Med. 1997 Aug;54(8):535–540. doi: 10.1136/oem.54.8.535. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Pope C. A., 3rd, Thun M. J., Namboodiri M. M., Dockery D. W., Evans J. S., Speizer F. E., Heath C. W., Jr Particulate air pollution as a predictor of mortality in a prospective study of U.S. adults. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1995 Mar;151(3 Pt 1):669–674. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm/151.3_Pt_1.669. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Schwartz J. Air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Tucson. Epidemiology. 1997 Jul;8(4):371–377. doi: 10.1097/00001648-199707000-00004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Schwartz J., Morris R. Air pollution and hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease in Detroit, Michigan. Am J Epidemiol. 1995 Jul 1;142(1):23–35. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117541. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Schwartz J. What are people dying of on high air pollution days? Environ Res. 1994 Jan;64(1):26–35. doi: 10.1006/enrs.1994.1004. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Seaton A., MacNee W., Donaldson K., Godden D. Particulate air pollution and acute health effects. Lancet. 1995 Jan 21;345(8943):176–178. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90173-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Soter N. A., Wasserman S. I., Austen K. F. Cold urticaria: release into the circulation of histamine and eosinophil chemotactic factor of anaphylaxis during cold challenge. N Engl J Med. 1976 Mar 25;294(13):687–690. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197603252941302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Stone P. H., Godleski J. J. First steps toward understanding the pathophysiologic link between air pollution and cardiac mortality. Am Heart J. 1999 Nov;138(5 Pt 1):804–807. doi: 10.1016/s0002-8703(99)70002-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Wietlisbach V., Pope C. A., 3rd, Ackermann-Liebrich U. Air pollution and daily mortality in three Swiss urban areas. Soz Praventivmed. 1996;41(2):107–115. doi: 10.1007/BF01323089. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Woodhouse P. R., Khaw K. T., Plummer M., Foley A., Meade T. W. Seasonal variations of plasma fibrinogen and factor VII activity in the elderly: winter infections and death from cardiovascular disease. Lancet. 1994 Feb 19;343(8895):435–439. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(94)92689-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wordley J., Walters S., Ayres J. G. Short term variations in hospital admissions and mortality and particulate air pollution. Occup Environ Med. 1997 Feb;54(2):108–116. doi: 10.1136/oem.54.2.108. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Zmirou D., Barumandzadeh T., Balducci F., Ritter P., Laham G., Ghilardi J. P. Short term effects of air pollution on mortality in the city of Lyon, France, 1985-90. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1996 Apr;50 (Suppl 1):S30–S35. doi: 10.1136/jech.50.suppl_1.s30. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES