Urinary volatile organic compound metabolites and COPD among US adults: mixture, interaction and mediation analysis

• Published in: Environmental health 2024-05, Vol.23 (1), p.45-45, Article 45
• Main Authors: Wang, Ying, Meng, Zhaowei, Wei, Sen, Li, Xuebing, Su, Zheng, Jiang, Yong, Wu, Heng, Pan, Hongli, Wang, Jing, Zhou, Qinghua, Qiao, Youlin, Fan, Yaguang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 1,3-Butadiene; Adult; Adults; Aged; Air Pollutants - analysis; Air pollution; Analysis; Asthma; Bayesian analysis; Bayesian kernel machine regression; Bayesian theory; Bayesian weighted quantile sum regression; Bilirubin; Blood cell count; Blood cells; Body mass index; Bronchitis; Butadiene; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Computation; Confidence intervals; Cysteine; Dimethylformamide; Emphysema; Environmental mixtures; Female; Health risks; Health surveys; Humans; Inflammation; Leukocytes; Logistic Models; Lung diseases; Lung diseases, Obstructive; Male; Mathematical models; Mediation; Mediation Analysis; Metabolites; Middle Aged; Mixtures; Nutrition; Nutrition Surveys; Organic compounds; Outdoor air quality; Pandemics; Probability theory; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - chemically induced; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - epidemiology; Quantile-based g-Computation; Quantiles; Questionnaires; Regression models; Smoking; Statistical analysis; United States - epidemiology; Urine; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Volatile Organic Compounds - urine
• ISSN: 1476-069X; 1476-069X
• DOI: 10.1186/s12940-024-01086-y

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) encompass hundreds of high production volume chemicals and have been reported to be associated with adverse respiratory outcomes such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, research on the combined toxic effects of exposure to various VOCs on COPD is lacking. We aimed to assess the effect of VOC metabolite mixture on COPD risk in a large population sample. We assessed the effect of VOC metabolite mixture on COPD risk in 5997 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2011 to 2020 (pre-pandemic) using multivariate logistic regression, Bayesian weighted quantile sum regression (BWQS), quantile-based g-Computation method (Qgcomp), and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR). We explored whether these associations were mediated by white blood cell (WBC) count and total bilirubin. In the logistic regression model, we observed a significantly increased risk of COPD associated with 9 VOC metabolites. Conversely, N-acetyl-S-(benzyl)-L-cysteine (BMA) and N-acetyl-S-(n-propyl)-L-cysteine (BPMA) showed insignificant negative correlations with COPD risk. The overall mixture exposure demonstrated a significant positive relationship with COPD in both the BWQS model (adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.06, 1.58) and BKMR model, and with marginal significance in the Qgcomp model (adjusted OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.52). All three models indicated a significant effect of the VOC metabolite mixture on COPD in non-current smokers. WBC count mediated 7.1% of the VOC mixture associated-COPD in non-current smokers. Our findings provide novel evidence suggesting that VOCs may have adverse associations with COPD in the general population, with N, N- Dimethylformamide and 1,3-Butadiene contributing most. These findings underscore the significance of understanding the potential health risks associated with VOC mixture and emphasize the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the adverse effects on COPD risk.