Susceptibility of individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to air pollution exposure in Beijing, China:...

Exposure to air pollution is one of the major risk factors contributing to the occurrence and development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, few studies have investigated the susceptibility of patients with COPD to air pollution. Here, we provided a study protocol. A panel study of a total of 480 samples to compare the response to air pollution exposure between 60 patients with COPD and 60 healthy control subjects has been performed in Beijing (the COPDB study) since May 2016. The health assessment and exposure evaluation methods used in this COPDB study are summarized here. Throat, exhaled breath and condensate, urine, serum, plasma, and blood samples, as well as cardiopulmonary function indexes were repeatedly collected over four visits. Indicators of inflammation, oxidative stress, infection, metabolic changes, and genetic differences were then analyzed. Personal and ambient levels of fine particles and their components, as well as gaseous pollutants were monitored during the follow-up period. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the associations between changes in biomarkers and exposure to air pollution in both patients with COPD and healthy control subjects. Based on the COPDB study, the susceptibility of COPD patients and underlying mechanisms, involving difference in inflammatory, infection, metabolic, and genetic response to different air pollutants, were investigated. Our preliminary result shows that air pollution-associated changes in heart rate were higher in COPD patients than the healthy controls. More investigations of the underlying mechanisms of the susceptibility are ongoing. This study has been registered in ChiCTR with the number of ChiCTR1900023692.