Impact of environmental exposures on exhaled breath and lung function: NELA Birth Cohort

Exposure to environmental factors (i.e. air pollution and second-hand tobacco smoke) have been associated with impaired lung function. However, the impact of environmental factors on lung health is usually evaluated separately and not with an exposomic framework. In this regard, breath analysis could be a noninvasive tool for biomonitoring of global human environmental exposure.

Data come from 337 mother-child pairs from the Nutrition in Early Childhood Asthma (NELA) birth cohort. Levels of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) in exhaled breath from mothers and children at 3 months after birth were estimated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Short-term residential exposures (breath sampling day and 15 days before breath sampling) to nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter (PM_2.5) and ozone were determined by chemical dispersion/transport modelling. Forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 0.5 s (FEV_0.5) and forced expiratory flow at 75% of FVC and at 25%-75% of FVC were measured in infants according to the raised-volume rapid thoracoabdominal compression technique.

The results showed significant associations between short-term exposure to external agents and levels of benzene and toluene in exhaled breath. It was observed that exhaled levels of benzene and toluene were influenced by smoking status and outdoor air pollution in mothers, and by air pollution in infants (3 months of age). No significant relationship was observed between exposure to maternal tobacco smoking and/or short-term air pollution and lung function in healthy infants. However, there was a significant relationship between FEV_0.5 and exhaled toluene in children.

These findings indicated a significant relationship between environmental exposures and exhaled levels of benzene and toluene, suggesting that breath analysis could be a helpful exposure biomonitoring tool.