Associations between the compositional patterns of blood volatile organic compounds and chronic respiratory diseases and ages at onset in NHANES 2003-2012

Yuanyuan Wang; Xinhao Han; Jingkun Li; Liuchao Zhang; Yu Liu; Ruifang Jin; Liang Chen; Xia Chu

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138425

Associations between the compositional patterns of blood volatile organic compounds and chronic respiratory diseases and ages at onset in NHANES 2003-2012

Chemosphere. 2023 Jun:327:138425. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138425. Epub 2023 Mar 15.

Authors

Yuanyuan Wang¹, Xinhao Han², Jingkun Li², Liuchao Zhang², Yu Liu¹, Ruifang Jin¹, Liang Chen¹, Xia Chu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Public Health College, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, China.
² Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Harbin Medical University, Harbin 150081, China.
³ Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Public Health College, Harbin Medical University, Harbin, 150081, China; Heilongjiang Academy of Medical Sciences, Harbin, 150081, China. Electronic address: cx831128@163.com.

PMID: 36931402
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138425

Abstract

Background: and Purpose Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) pose a serious respiratory hazard. This study evaluated the relationship between the compositional patterns of blood VOCs and the risk and age at onset of chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), including asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis, with the objective of preventing or delaying CRDs.

Methods: Participants from five cycles of the NHANES survey were included. Blood VOCs were clustered using k-means clustering. Differences in VOCs and age at onset between multiple groups were compared with the Kruskal‒Wallis test. Logistic regression and a generalized linear model were applied to examine the associations between different compositional patterns of blood VOCs and risk and age at onset of CRDs.

Results: 12,386 participants were enrolled in this study. Three VOC compositional patterns were identified after clustering nine species of blood VOCs. The concentration of VOCs in pattern 2 was relatively low and stable. The concentrations of benzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, styrene, toluene and m-p-xylene in pattern 3 and the concentrations of 1,4-dichlorobenzene and MTBE in pattern 1 were significantly higher than those in pattern 2. After adjustment for covariates, the participants with VOC pattern 3 had an increased risk of asthma (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.02, 1.49), emphysema (OR = 3.37, 95% CI: 2.24, 5.06) and chronic bronchitis (OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.30, 2.45). Meanwhile, VOC pattern 3 was negatively correlated with the age at onset of asthma (β = -5.61, 95% CI: 9.69, -1.52) and chronic bronchitis (β = -9.17, 95% CI: 13.96, -4.39). VOC pattern 1 was not associated with either risk or age at onset of the three CRDs after adjustment.

Conclusions: Changing the compositional pattern of blood VOCs by reducing certain species of VOCs may be a new strategy to lengthen the ages at onset of CRDs and effectively prevent them.

Keywords: Age at onset; Chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs); NHANES; Volatile organic compound (VOC) compositional patterns.

MeSH terms

Age of Onset
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Asthma* / epidemiology
Bronchitis, Chronic* / epidemiology
Emphysema*
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Nutrition Surveys
Respiration Disorders*
Volatile Organic Compounds* / analysis

Substances

Volatile Organic Compounds
Air Pollutants
3-xylene