Abstract:
Objective To explore whether pollutants exposure has a measurable impact on urine 8-OH-dG level of healthy schoolchildren in traffic artery air polluted region.
Methods A primary school near the trunk road with a distance about 30 meters was selected, from which 30 schoolchildren fit the qualifications were selected as the objects. The pollution le vels of SO2, NOX, O3 and PM2.5 were consecutively detected for five days in May and November, 2008 at the regional monitoring site in the playground. The pollution levels of SO2, NO2, O3 and PM10 were consecutively detected for 3 days in the same months at schoolchildren's activity places(classroom sites, extracurricular activity sites and sites on the way to school). Urine 8-OHdG content of the schoolchildren was also measured.
Results The regional monitoring results showed that the pollution load coefficient of PM2.5 were 0.33 and 0.27 in May and November respectively, of NOX were 0.31 and 0.26, the two pollutants formed the biggest pollution load coefficients. Compared to May, the value of urine 8-OH-dG of schoolchildren increased with statistically significant difference in November (P<0.001). Urine 8-OH-dG level positively correlated with personal exposure to environmental pollutants with statistically significant difference (P<0.001), in which PM10 showed the largest regression coefficient (βPM10=0.40, βNO2=0.38, βO3=0.36, βSO2=0.36).
Conclusion Exposure to traffic artery air pollution may be the influencing factor affecting urine 8-OH-dG level in healthy schoolchildren.