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Updated: Apr 20, 2026

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters
Published on: July 12, 2024
Secondhand smoke and traffic exhaust confer opposing risks for asthma in normal and overweight children
Grace LeMasters1, Linda Levin, David I Bernstein
1Department of Environmental Health, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Division of Asthma Research, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Objective:
Exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) in secondhand smoke (SHS) and traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) may elicit chronic inflammation. It was hypothesized that the association between these exposures would be potentiated in overweight versus normal-weight children.
Methods:
Average lifetime exposure to TRAP and SHS and objective, physician-diagnosed asthma were determined for 575 children at age 7. Overweight was defined as having a body mass index (BMI) >85th percentile for age and gender. The association between TRAP and SHS exposure and asthma was examined by logistic regression stratified by BMI.
Results:
A total of 131 children were overweight; the prevalence of asthma was 24.4% and 14.2% among overweight and normal-weight children, respectively. Exposure to SHS was significantly associated with asthma among overweight (adjusted odds ratio [adjOR] = 3.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.2, 7.4) but not normal-weight children (adjOR = 1.1; 95% CI = 0.4, 2.7). In contrast, TRAP was significantly associated with asthma among normal-weight (adjOR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.0, 3.4) but not overweight children (adjOR = 0.7; 95% CI = 0.4, 2.7).
Conclusions:
The association between SHS and TRAP exposure and asthma is modified by children's weight. Children's time-activity patterns, including time spent indoors or outdoors, may vary by weight and play an important role in these UFP exposures.
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