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Acute changes in heart rate variability in subjects with diabetes following a highway traffic exposure
Robert J Laumbach1, David Q Rich, Sampada Gandhi
1Division of Clinical Research and Occupational Medicine, Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. laumbach@eohsi.rutgers.edu
Objective:
To pilot a protocol to evaluate acute cardiovascular effects in in-vehicle exposure to traffic air pollutants in people with diabetes.
Methods:
Twenty-one volunteers with type 2 diabetes were passengers on 90- to 110-minute car rides on a busy highway. We measured in-vehicle particle number and mass (PM2.5) nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide and heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV), and blood pressure.
Results:
Compared with pre-ride measurements, we found a decrease in high frequency (HF) HRV from pre-ride to next day (ratio 0.66, 95% CI = 0.47 to 0.93) and an increase in low frequency to HF ratio at post-ride (ratio 1.92, 95% CI = 1.21 to 3.05) at post-ride. Interquartile range increases in measured pollutants were associated with next-day decreases in HR HRV.
Conclusions:
This protocol appears useful for assessing acute adverse cardiovascular effects of in-vehicle exposures among people who have diabetes.
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