1 - H&TRC- Health & Technology Research Center, ESTeSL- Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa , Lisbon , Portugal.
2 - Integrated Pathophysiological Mechanisms Research Group, Nova Medical School, CEDOC , Lisbon , Portugal.
3 - Serviço de Imunoalergologia, Hospital de Dona Estefânia, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, EPE , Lisbon , Portugal.
4 - Epidemiology and Statistics Analysis Unit, Research Centre, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, EPE, CEAUL , Lisbon , Portugal.
5 - NOVA Medical School/Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa , Lisbon , Portugal.
6 - CEDOC, Integrated Pathophysiological Mechanisms Research Group, Nova Medical School , Lisbon , Portugal.
7 - DINAMIÁCET - Centre for Socioeconomic and Territorial Studies, ISCTE, Lisbon University Institute , Lisbon , Portugal.
8 - Environmental Health Department, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge , Lisbon , Portugal.
9 - Environmental Health Department, National Institute of Health , Porto , Portugal.
10 - Institute of Public Health (ISPUP), Porto University , Porto , Portugal.
- J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2019;54(12):1153-1158. doi: 10.1080/10934529.2019.1637206. Epub 2019 Jul 5.
Resumo: In the Portuguese Geriatric Study of the Health Effects of Indoor Air Quality in Senior Nursing Homes, we aimed to evaluate the impact of indoor air contaminants on the respiratory symptoms and biomarkers in a sample of elderly living in nursing homes. A total of 269 elderly answered a health questionnaire, performed a spirometry and 150 out of these collected an exhaled breath condensate sample for pH and nitrites analysis. The study included the evaluation of indoor chemical and microbiological contaminants. The median age of the participants was 84 (78-87) years and 70.6% were women. The spirometric data indicated the presence of airway obstruction in 14.5% of the sample. Median concentrations of air pollutants did not exceed the existing standards, although increased peak values were observed. In the multivariable analysis, each increment of 100 µg/m3 of total volatile organic compounds was associated with the odds of respiratory infection in the previous three months ( ORˆ =1.05; 95% CI: 1.00-1.09). PM2.5 concentrations were inversely associated with pH values ( βˆ = -0.04, 95%: -0.06 to -0.01, for each increment of 10 µg/m3). Additionally, a direct and an inverse association were found between total bacteria and FEV1/FVC and FVC, respectively.
Palavras Chave: Older people; indoor air quality; inflammatory biomarker; lung function; nursing homes