Effects of Subchronic and Chronic Exposure to Ambient Air Pollutants on Infant Bronchiolitis

Ambient air pollutant exposure has been linked to childhood respiratory disease, but infants have received little study. The authors tested the hypotheses that subchronic and chronic exposure to fine particulate matter (particulate matter < or = 2.5 microm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5)), nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and ozone increases risk of severe infant bronchiolitis requiring hospitalization. Study subjects were derived from linked birth-hospital-discharge records of infants born in 1995-2000 in the South Coast Air Basin of California. Cases with a hospital discharge for bronchiolitis in infancy were matched to 10 age- and gestational-age-matched controls. Exposures in the month prior to hospitalization (subchronic) and mean lifetime exposure (chronic) referenced to the case diagnosis date were assessed on the basis of data derived from the California Air Resources Board. In conditional logistic regression, only subchronic and chronic PM2.5 exposures were associated with increased risk of bronchiolitis hospitalization after adjustment for confounders (per 10-microg/m3 increase, adjusted odds ratio = 1.09 (95% confidence interval: 1.04, 1.14) for both). Ozone was associated with reduced risk in the single-pollutant model, but this relation did not persist in multipollutant models including PM2.5. These unique US data suggest that infant bronchiolitis may be added to the list of adverse effects of PM2.5 exposure.