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. 2024 Apr 4;8(2):e295.
doi: 10.1097/EE9.0000000000000295. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Longitudinal associations between ambient PM2.5 exposure and lipid levels in two Indian cities

Kritika Anand  1 , Gagandeep Kaur Walia  2 , Siddhartha Mandal  1 , Jyothi S Menon  1   2 , Ruby Gupta  1   2 , Nikhil Tandon  3 , K M Venkat Narayan  4   5 , Mohammed K Ali  4   5 , Viswanathan Mohan  6 , Joel D Schwartz  7 , Dorairaj Prabhakaran  1   2
Affiliations

Longitudinal associations between ambient PM2.5 exposure and lipid levels in two Indian cities

Kritika Anand et al. Environ Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Background: Exposure to ambient PM2.5 is known to affect lipid metabolism through systemic inflammation and oxidative stress. Evidence from developing countries, such as India with high levels of ambient PM2.5 and distinct lipid profiles, is sparse.

Methods: Longitudinal nonlinear mixed-effects analysis was conducted on >10,000 participants of Centre for cArdiometabolic Risk Reduction in South Asia (CARRS) cohort in Chennai and Delhi, India. We examined associations between 1-month and 1-year average ambient PM2.5 exposure derived from the spatiotemporal model and lipid levels (total cholesterol [TC], triglycerides [TRIG], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C], and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C]) measured longitudinally, adjusting for residential and neighborhood-level confounders.

Results: The mean annual exposure in Chennai and Delhi was 40 and 102 μg/m3 respectively. Elevated ambient PM2.5 levels were associated with an increase in LDL-C and TC at levels up to 100 µg/m3 in both cities and beyond 125 µg/m3 in Delhi. TRIG levels in Chennai increased until 40 µg/m3 for both short- and long-term exposures, then stabilized or declined, while in Delhi, there was a consistent rise with increasing annual exposures. HDL-C showed an increase in both cities against monthly average exposure. HDL-C decreased slightly in Chennai with an increase in long-term exposure, whereas it decreased beyond 130 µg/m3 in Delhi.

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate diverse associations between a wide range of ambient PM2.5 and lipid levels in an understudied South Asian population. Further research is needed to establish causality and develop targeted interventions to mitigate the impact of air pollution on lipid metabolism and cardiovascular health.

Keywords: Ambient air pollution; Cardiometabolic diseases; India; LMIC; Lipids; Particulate matter.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest with regard to the content of this report. K.A. was involved in conceptualization, developing methodology, conducting the formal analysis, visualization, and writing the original draft. G.K.W. was involved in conceptualization, developing methodology, and writing the original draft. S.M. and J.D.S. provided methodological and analysis supervision. J.S.M. provided data analysis resources. R.G., N.T., K.M.V.N., M.K.A., V.M., D.P., and J.D.S. contributed to the conceptualization, investigation, resources, and funding acquisition of the CARRS cohort. All authors edited and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flowchart detailing inclusion of participants in the study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Longitudinal association between short-term (A) and long-term (B) ambient PM2.5 exposure and lipid levels in Delhi and Chennai. Shaded areas represent point-wise prediction intervals. The lines depicted correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles, marking the lower and upper boundaries of the interquartile range. This range encapsulates the associations within the middle 50% of the observations.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Association between exposure to short-term (A) and long-term (B) ambient PM2.5 and lipid levels stratified by effect modifier. Shaded areas represent point-wise prediction intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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