Research

Breath acidification in adolescent runners exposed to atmospheric pollution: A prospective, repeated measures observational study

Jill M Ferdinands¹ , Carol A Gotway Crawford² , Roby Greenwald³ , David Van Sickle^1,4 , Eric Hunter³ and W Gerald Teague³

¹  Air Pollution and Respiratory Health Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS A-32, Atlanta GA 30333, USA

²  Office of Career and Workforce Development, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, MS E-94, Atlanta GA 30333, USA

³  Emory Pediatrics Asthma Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Emory University, 2015 Uppergate Drive, Atlanta GA 30322, USA

⁴  Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 610 Walnut St, 707 WARF, Madison, WI 53726, USA

author email corresponding author email

Environmental Health 2008, 7:10doi:10.1186/1476-069X-7-10

Published:	7 March 2008

Abstract

Background

Vigorous outdoors exercise during an episode of air pollution might cause airway inflammation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of vigorous outdoor exercise during peak smog season on breath pH, a biomarker of airway inflammation, in adolescent athletes.

Methods

We measured breath pH both pre- and post-exercise on ten days during peak smog season in 16 high school athletes engaged in daily long-distance running in a downwind suburb of Atlanta. The association of post-exercise breath pH with ambient ozone and particulate matter concentrations was tested with linear regression.

Results

We collected 144 pre-exercise and 146 post-exercise breath samples from 16 runners (mean age 14.9 years, 56% male). Median pre-exercise breath pH was 7.58 (interquartile range: 6.90 to 7.86) and did not change significantly after exercise. We observed no significant association between ambient ozone or particulate matter and post-exercise breath pH. However both pre- and post-exercise breath pH were strikingly low in these athletes when compared to a control sample of 14 relatively sedentary healthy adults and to published values of breath pH in healthy subjects.

Conclusion

Although we did not observe an acute effect of air pollution exposure during exercise on breath pH, breath pH was surprisingly low in this sample of otherwise healthy long-distance runners. We speculate that repetitive vigorous exercise may induce airway acidification.