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Brief Description:

Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, along with scientists from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analyzed previously-collected data on young, healthy, non-smoking men and women to see if they could answer that question. Their study provided the first evidence that people with a higher body mass index may have a greater response to ozone than leaner people.

Transcript:

SCHMALFELDT: If you live in an urban area, chances are you're familiar with the effects of ozone in the atmosphere. For many, an ozone alert on a hot summer day means avoiding outdoor exercise during the hottest part of the day. But for some, high ozone levels caused by the presence of sunlight mixing with pollutants emitted from vehicles or other sources can lead to more serious problems, like decreased lung function. Where short-term exposure to ozone has long been known to cause a temporary drop in lung function in many people, scientists have wondered what, if anything, a person's weight might have to do with a drop in lung function following acute ozone exposure. Researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Sciences, along with scientists from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analyzed previously-collected data on young, healthy, non-smoking men and women to see if they could answer that question. Their study provided the first evidence that people with a higher body mass index may have a greater response to ozone than leaner people. Dr. Stephanie London, an NIEHS researcher and co-author of the study, suggested a possible reason for this.

LONDON: We are left with something we can't directly examine in this study. It's already known that obesity is sort of a state of systemic inflammation and that a number of markers of body-wide systemic inflammation are higher in more-obese people. It's also known that these markers of inflammation tend to be inversely related to lung function. And, so, it may be that because of the greater state of systemic inflammation in heavier people, they may be more responsive to the lung function decrement that occurs with ozone.

SCHMALFELDT: Future studies will include a targeted pool of obese and lower weight subjects as well as measures of waist circumference, since fat deposited centrally on the body may have a greater influence on a person's respiratory response to ozone. The study was published in the November issue of the journal Inhalation Toxicology. From the National Institutes of Health, I'm Bill Schmalfeldt in Bethesda, Maryland.