Modification by Frailty Status of the Respiratory Health Effects of Air Pollution in Older Adults

• Activity Number: 591
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 4, 2010 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
• Author(s): Sandrah P. Eckel*+ and Thomas Louis and Karen Bandeen-Roche and Paulo H. Chaves and Helene G. Margolis and Linda P. Fried
• Companies: University of Southern California and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and University of California, Davis and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
• Keywords: effect modification ; mixed effects models ; elderly ; interaction ; longitudinal data anlaysis ; gerontologic frailty

Abstract

To enhance our understanding of older adult susceptibility, we investigated whether frailty (a measure of health status in older adults) modifies the effects of air pollution on lung function. We used longitudinal data on the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) cohort and monthly average ambient air pollution levels from the CHS Environmental Factors Ancillary Study, interpolated to participant residences. We examined sub-acute and chronic effects by relating time-varying individual-level exposure (O3 or PM10) to a time-varying health outcome (lung function as measured by FEV1 or FVC), emphasizing effect modification by frailty status history. For chronic effects, we used cumulative summaries of exposure (analogous to pack years smoked) and frailty status, and found evidence of increased air pollution-related decline in FVC amongst participants with a longer history of frailty.