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Background Blood lipids and glucose levels dysregulation represent potential mechanisms intermediating the adverse cardiovascular effects of ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure. This study aims to estimate the effect of long-term PM10 exposure on blood lipids and glucose levels and to assess the potential mediation and/or modification action of abdominal obesity (AO) (waist-to-height ratio). Methods Our study was based on 2,390 participants of the first Portuguese Health Examination Survey (INSEF, 2015) with available data on blood lipids and glucose parameters and living within a 30-km radius of an air quality monitoring station with available PM10 measurements. PM10 concentrations were acquired from the air quality monitoring network of the Portuguese Environment Agency. Generalized linear models were used to assess the effect of 1-year PM10 exposure on blood lipids and glucose levels. An interaction term was introduced in the models to test the modification action of AO. Results We found an association between PM10 and non-fasting blood triglycerides (TG) after adjustment for age, sex, education, occupation, lifestyles-related variables and temperature but only in participants with AO. Per each 1 µg/m3 PM10 increment, there was a 1.84% (95% confidence interval: 0.02–3.69) increase in TG. For the remaining blood lipid and glucose parameters, no associations were found. Conclusions Our study demonstrates that even at low levels of exposure, long-term PM10 exposure interacts with AO to increase blood TG. Our findings suggest that reducing both AO prevalence and PM10 below current standards would result in additional health benefits for the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Blood lipids levels dysregulation represent potential mechanism intermediating the adverse cardiovascular effects of ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure. The present study aims to estimate the effect of particulate matter (PM10) exposure on blood lipid levels (TC, Total Cholesterol; HDL-C, High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; LDL-C, Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol; TG, Triglycerides) in the adult Portuguese mainland population and to assess the potential mediation and/or modification action of abdominal obesity on this effect. Methods: We used data from 2390 participants of the 1st Portuguese Health Examination Survey (INSEF, 2015) with available data on blood lipids parameters and living within a 30km radius of an air quality monitoring station with available PM10 measurements. PM10 concentrations were acquired from the air quality monitoring network of the Portuguese Environment Agency. Generalized linear models were used to assess the effect of 1-year PM10 exposure on blood lipids values. An interaction term was introduced in the models to test the modification action of abdominal obesity. Results: We found an association between long-term exposure to PM10 and non-fasting blood TG levels after adjustment for age, sex, education, occupation, lifestyles related variables and temperature but only in participants with abdominal obesity (1.84% TG increase per each 1 μg/m3 PM10 increment, 95% CI: 0.02%; 3.69%) which is well supported by the sensitivity analysis. Conclusions: Our study demonstrate that even at low levels of exposure, long-term PM10 exposure interacts with abdominal obesity to increase blood TG levels. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study showing the modification action of abdominal obesity regarding the PM10 effect on a blood lipid parameter. Our findings suggest that reducing both abdominal obesity prevalence and PM10 below current standards would result in additional health benefits for the population. Key messages: Long-term PM10 exposure interacts with abdominal obesity to increase non-fasting blood triglycerides levels by about 2% per each 1 μg/m3 PM10 increase. Reducing both abdominal obesity prevalence and PM10 below current standards would result in additional health benefits for the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]