Grants and Fellowships | 2014

48 Post-Doctoral Fellowships Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Noise and Blood Pressure of Children: Results from the PIAMA Birth Cohort Study Very little is known about the effects of traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) on blood pressure (BP) in children. TRAP and noise share traffic as a common source, and both have been suggested to be positively associated with BP in adults. We investigated the associations of short- and long- term exposures to TRAP, as well as long-term exposure to traffic noise (TN) with BP in 12 year-old children from the PIAMA birth cohort study followed from pregnancy until the age 12. TRAP concentrations at the participants home and school addresses during the time of BP measurements were estimated by land use regression (LUR) models. The models were based on TRAP monitoring campaigns performed between February 2009 and February 2010 which included measurements of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), “soot” (determined as the reflectance of PM 2.5 f ilters), PM 2.5 , and PM 10 . The LUR models were used to estimate TRAP concentration at the participants’ addresses, using the same GIS predictor variables. Daily data on NO 2 , PM 10 and ozone from routine background monitoring sites located in the study area were used to estimate short-term exposures. Road TN at the participants’ home and school addresses at the time of BP measurements was estimated using the EMPARA noise mapping model for the Netherlands. We were able to geocode home addresses and assign TRAP and TN exposures for 1,400 of the 1,432 children with BP. We observed that diastolic BP tended to increase with increasing long-term TRAP exposure at home and school addresses. The associations were stronger for children who lived at the same address since birth. The associations became slightly stronger for NO 2 , PM 2.5 absorbance and PM 2.5 after exclusion of children with doctor-diagnosed asthma and/or diabetes. In addition we investigated the association between particulate matter composition and BP. Annual average concentrations of copper, iron, potassium, nickel, sulfur, silicon, vanadium, and zinc in particles with diameters of less than 10µm (PM 10 ) and 2.5µm (PM 2.5 ) were estimated. We found a positive association between diastolic BP and iron, silicon, and potassium in PM 10 and between iron and silicon in PM 2.5 . The association with iron may indicate the health relevance of non-exhaust emissions from traffic. Research publications (1) Bilenko, N., Rossem, L.V., Brunekreef, B., Beelen, R., Eeftens, M., Hoek, G., Houthuijs, D., de Jongste, J.C., Kempen, E.V., Koppelman, G.H., Meliefste, K., Oldenwening, M., Smit, H.A., Wijga, A.H., & Gehring, U. (2013). Traffic- related air pollution and noise and children's blood pressure: Results from the PIAMA birth cohort study. Journal of Preventive Cardiology . Advance online publication. doi: 10.1177/2047487313505821 Fellow Natalya Bilenko Utrecht University, the Netherlands Supervisor Bert Brunekreef 2012-2013