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Stress & Air Pollution

We live in a stressful world. Stress is the additive in our lives that can make us miserable and cause our health to take a turn for the worst. What causes your stress? Maybe it’s exposure to violence in the neighborhood or something simple like getting stuck in traffic or working near a noisy traffic polluted area. Chronic exposure to stress has long been thought to influence disease risk. And, exposure to air pollution is suggested to influence susceptibly to airway disease when stress is perceived.

In a new study in the Journal Environmental Health Perspectives, June 2010, researchers have found a link to chronic psychosocial stress and increased susceptibility to adverse physiological effects from traffic-related air pollution.(i)

In this rat model, the authors set out to examine the impact of chronic social stress on respiratory response to air pollution exposure. Twenty-four 12-week-old male rats were randomly assigned into four groups utilizing the combination of two variables: controlled exposures to uniform doses of concentrated ambient particles (CAP) (i.e.: fine particulate matter of air pollution) or filtered air (FA) at five hours/day following exposure or not to a stressful environmental trigger. The chronic stressful event was introduction into the home cage of an older dominant male for twenty minutes at a time at twice/week. Both respiratory function and blood-borne inflammatory markers associated with airway disease were analyzed. The stressed rats displayed higher white blood cell counts, C-reactive protein levels and tumor necrosis factor- α compared to the non-stressed rats. Most significantly, among the stressed rats, those exposed to CAPs demonstrated an altered respiratory response with a rapid and shallow breathing pattern (i.e.: increased respiratory frequency, lower flows and volumes), compared to the non-stressed rats.

Though the sample size of this study was small, based on these findings the authors suggest that chronic stress may negatively impact the respiratory response to air pollution. The authors note that further studies utilizing larger sample size in a longitudinal model are needed to understand these effects fully. As for humans, the authors suggest that stressors (such as exposure to violence or perceived stress) combined with environmental exposures to traffic-related air pollution, may shape disease susceptibility within the population.

Living in the real world, although we may not be able to avoid some stressors in our lives, we can take preventive action to assess our exposures to pollution and target supportive measures for our health.

The combustion of fossil fuels by our cars, trucks, buses and industry generate a mixture of compounds including volatile organic compounds (such as benzene, toluene and xylene) and fine particulate matter. Combined, these gases and particles form aerosols that are released into the air we breathe.

US BioTek’s Environmental Pollutants Profile is a simple spot urine test that will assess a patient’s exposure to several volatile organic compounds including benzene, toluene and xylene in addition to phthalates, a possible endocrine disruptor. The urine sample is collected using our proprietary Dip ’N Dry swab to maximize analyte stability and recovery. Once collected, the sample can be safely and easily shipped at room temperature via standard postal.

To view complete test profile information please click here.

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