2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

Home Events & Meetings Annual Meeting Schedule & Program

Recorded Annual Meeting Presentations (RAMP) are now available for purchase.
Only $90 for presenters, $140 for registered attendees and $200 for non-attendees.

Online Program

322104
Time course of heart rate variability response to PM2.5 exposure from secondhand smoke


Monday, November 2, 2015 : 9:12 a.m. - 9:26 a.m.

Jennifer Garza, ScD, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT
Murray Mittleman, MDCM, MPH, DrPH
Jinming Zhang, Environmental Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA
David Christiani, MD, MPH, MS, Department of Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA
Jennifer Cavallari, ScD, CIH, Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT
Audio (mp3) recording Recorded Presentation (mp4)
Background/Objectives: Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) is 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.

Methods: 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 used linear mixed regression models with PM2.5 moving averages as independent variables and HRV from the 5 minute interval at the end of the moving average as dependent variables.

Results: 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<0.01) 7.5% decrease in  the 5-minute square root of the mean squared differences of successive normal heart beats associated with (RMSSD), and a significant (p<0.01) 14.7% decrease in the 5-minute high frequency (HF) power associated with the 15 minute PM2.5 moving averages; there was also a significant (p<0.01) 46.9% decrease in  the 5-minute RMSSD, and a significant (p<0.01) 77.7% decrease in the 5-minute high frequency (HF) power associated with the 240 minute PM2.5 moving averages. 

Conclusions: Our findings that exposure to SHS related PM2.5 was associated with lower short and longer term HRV provide further evidence of the adverse effects of SHS on the cardiovascular system and support for the reduction and elimination of SHS from the environment.

Learning Areas:

Environmental health sciences
Public health biology
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the associations observed between heart rate variability and PM2.5 moving averages of different durations. Identify the implications of these results for the field of secondhand smoke research and policy.

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Heart Disease

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have a doctorate in Environmental Health and am a certified industrial hygienist. I was involved in the study design, data analysis, data interpretation and creation of the presentaion.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3065.0: Occupational and environmental hygiene and exposure assessment