Volatile organic compounds and mortality from ischemic heart disease: A case-cohort study

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Toxicology
• Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology

Background:

• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are prevalent air pollutants and components of tobacco smoke.
• Exposure to VOCs is linked to cardiovascular diseases, but direct evidence for specific VOCs and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality is limited.
• Sources of VOCs include biomass burning, fossil fuels, and consumer products.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between urinary biomarkers of smoking-related volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality.
• To provide direct evidence for the link between specific VOCs and IHD mortality in the general population, independent of smoking status.

Main Methods:

• A case-cohort study nested within the Golestan cohort study (n=50,045) in Iran.
• Measured urinary concentrations of 20 VOC biomarkers using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.
• Analyzed associations with IHD mortality using Cox regression, adjusting for various risk factors and stratifying by smoking status.

Main Results:

• Significant associations were found between biomarkers of acrylamide, acrylonitrile, acrolein, styrene/ethylbenzene, dimethylformamide/methylisocyanate, and 1,3-butadiene and IHD mortality.
• These associations were independent of tobacco smoking.
• The associations were particularly evident in the non-smoking subgroup.

Conclusions:

• Findings provide direct evidence linking exposure to common household and commercial VOCs with IHD mortality.
• Highlights the importance of non-tobacco VOC exposure as a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
• Emphasizes the need for bio-monitoring of non-tobacco VOC exposure in the general population.