Short-term effects of air pollutant exposure on small airway dysfunction, spirometry, health-related quality of life, and inflammatory biomarkers in wildland firefighters: a pilot study

Abstract

We aim to assess small airway dysfunction, spirometry, health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), and inflammatory biomarkers between the wildland firefighters and healthy controls. Lung function including impulse oscillometry (IOS) and spirometry, HR-QoL measured by the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) and St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP), and D-dimer were collected twice in the non-pollution period and pollution period. Gaussian regression was used for comparison all parameters between two groups. The results showed that the changes in area under reactance curve between 5 Hz and resonant frequency (AX) between the non-pollution and pollution periods in wildland firefighters was significantly higher compared to healthy controls (adjusted mean difference = 0.15 kPa/L, 95%CI;0.01, 0.28, p = 0.032). Our pilot study concluded that there was short-term effect on small airway function in wildland firefighter air pollutant exposure. However, there was no effect on spirometry, HRQoL, and inflammatory biomarkers in young wildland firefighters. Clinical Trials Registry: Study ID: TCTR20200828005.