Impact of metals exposure on lung function and serum club cell secretory protein among schoolchildren: A mixture and mediation analysis

Jie Li; Meili Shen; Ting Wang; Xiao Zhang; Wen Gu; Mengmeng Xu; Tongjin Yang; Jie Cui; Xin Xia; Guoping Chen; Siyu Zheng; Haoying Yang; Yanhua Wang; Haibing Zhan; Jingjing Teng; Huawei Duan

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136164

Impact of metals exposure on lung function and serum club cell secretory protein among schoolchildren: A mixture and mediation analysis

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Oct 13:480:136164. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136164. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Jie Li¹, Meili Shen², Ting Wang², Xiao Zhang³, Wen Gu², Mengmeng Xu², Tongjin Yang⁴, Jie Cui⁴, Xin Xia⁴, Guoping Chen⁴, Siyu Zheng⁴, Haoying Yang², Yanhua Wang², Haibing Zhan⁴, Jingjing Teng⁵, Huawei Duan⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Trauma and Chemical Poisoning, National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
³ National Center for Chronic and Noncommunicable Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
⁴ Anhui Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Research Institute of Anhui Province, Hefei, China.
⁵ Anhui Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Public Health Research Institute of Anhui Province, Hefei, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Trauma and Chemical Poisoning, National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China; Key Laboratory of Chemical Safety and Health, National Institute for Occupational Health and Poison Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 39413513
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.136164

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) and its harmful components are significant contributors to respiratory diseases and impaired lung function, especially in children. Club cell secretory protein (CC16) is a maker of lung epithelium or club cell injuries. To date, the relationship between metals related with PM and CC16 and lung function impairment has been overlooked in children. We enrolled 603 schoolchildren exposed to different levels of PM in China. We found per doubling increase, urinary thallium, and iron was associated with a 3.42 % (95 % CI: 0.01, 6.72) and 3.09 % (95 % CI: 0.55, 5.56) decrease of serum CC16, respectively, whereas urinary cadmium was associated with a 4.74 % (95 % CI: 1.29, 8.31) increase of serum CC16. The Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) model confirmed these associations and showed a potential synergistic interaction between thallium and cadmium. Urinary metal mixtures were associated with lower CC16 when they were below the 35th percentile compared with their median. Serum CC16 mediated 11.47 % (95 % CI: 0.06, 45.00) of the association between urinary thallium and FEV₁/FVC decline. The inverted U-shaped association with CC16 and the mediation role of CC16 on associations with lung function provide insight into the mechanisms underlying lung injury induced by metals related with PM.

Keywords: Ambient particulate matter; CC16; Lung function; Metal; Schoolchildren.