Recent studies suggest that women may be more sensitive to the effects of breathing diesel exhaust fumes than men. The International Congress of the European Respiratory Society will feature a presentation of this information in Barcelona, Spain.
According to recent research, women may be more affected by breathing diesel exhaust fumes than men are. This information will be presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The effects of exposure to diesel exhaust on people’s blood were examined by researchers. The blood components associated with inflammation, infection, and cardiovascular disease were altered in both males and females, but more so in females.
Professor Neeloffer Mookherjee of the University of Manitoba and Professor Chris Carlsten of the University of British Columbia, both in Vancouver, Canada, led the two research groups that collaborated on the study, which was presented by Dr. Hemshekhar Mahadevappa of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. To the Congress, Dr. Mahadevappa stated: “Asthma and respiratory infections are two lung illnesses that differ between the sexes. Our earlier studies demonstrated that breathing diesel exhaust causes lung inflammation and affects the body’s response to respiratory illnesses. We wanted to see if there were any blood-related effects and how they varied between males and females in our investigation.”
Ten healthy non-smokers participated in the study, five of whom were male and five of whom were female. With a four-week pause in between each exposure, each volunteer spent four hours breathing filtered air and four hours inhaling air that included diesel exhaust fumes at three different concentrations – 20, 50, and 150 micrograms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre. The annual limit for PM2.5 in the European Union is currently 25 micrograms per cubic metre, however far higher peaks are typical in many places.
24 hours after each exposure, volunteers gave blood samples, and the researchers carefully examined the blood plasma of the individuals. In addition to hundreds of proteins and other chemicals, plasma, the liquid portion of blood, transports blood cells throughout the body. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is a well-known analysis technique that the researchers used to check for changes in the amounts of various proteins after exposure to diesel exhaust. They contrasted the differences between males and females.
Following exposure to diesel exhaust, the researchers observed that levels of 90 proteins were noticeably different between female and male subjects when comparing plasma samples. Some proteins that are known to be involved in inflammation, damage repair, blood clotting, cardiovascular disease, and the immune system were among the proteins that varied between males and females. When volunteers were exposed to larger concentrations of diesel exhaust, some of these abnormalities were more obvious.
These are preliminary data, but they demonstrate that exposure to diesel exhaust affects female bodies differently than those of men, which may suggest that ladies are more vulnerable to the dangers of air pollution than males.
“This is significant since it is known that respiratory illnesses like asthma impact boys and females differently, with females more likely to experience severe asthma that does not improve with treatment. Therefore, much more research is required to understand how different genders react to air pollution and what this entails for respiratory disease prevention, detection, and treatment.”
To better understand how these proteins contribute to the differences between male and female immune responses, the researchers intend to keep investigating the roles of these proteins. The chair of the European Respiratory Society Environment and Health Committee, Professor Zorana Andersen of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, was not involved in the study.
We are aware that air pollution exposure, particularly diesel exhaust, is a significant risk factor for illnesses including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. We need governments to set and enforce limits on air pollutants because there is not much we as individuals can do to prevent breathing in filthy air.
Zorana continued, “Additionally, we need to comprehend how and why air pollution harms people’s health. This research provides some crucial information about how the body responds to diesel exhaust and how that response may vary between males and females.”
