Time Course of Heart Rate Variability Response to PM2.5 Exposure from Secondhand Smoke

• Published in: PloS one 2016-05, Vol.11 (5), p.e0154783-e0154783
• Main Authors: Garza, Jennifer L, Mittleman, Murray A, Zhang, Jinming, Christiani, David C, Cavallari, Jennifer M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biology and Life Sciences; Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular system; Correlation analysis; Electrocardiography; Engineering and Technology; Exposure; Health risks; Heart rate; Heart Rate - drug effects; High frequencies; Humans; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Middle Aged; Outdoor air quality; Particulate matter; Particulate matter monitoring; Passive smoking; Physical Sciences; Research and Analysis Methods; Smoke; Studies; Time Factors; Tobacco smoke; Tobacco Smoke Pollution - adverse effects; Variability
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154783

Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) has been associated with decreased heart rate variability (HRV). However, the time course of this association is unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the association between 15-240 minute SHS-related fine particulate matter (PM2.5) moving averages and indices of HRV. With a panel study design, we used personal monitors to continuously measure PM2.5 and HRV of 35 participants who were exposed to SHS for approximately 6 hours. We observed negative, significant associations between 5-minute HRV indices and 15 minute PM2.5 moving averages and 240 minute PM2.5 moving averages: there was a significant (p