A platform for collaborations in respiratory research in Sweden
The EMIL study is a longitudinal, prospective birth cohort including children born during 2014-2017 in Stockholm, Sweden, designed to elucidate mechanisms behind the induction of adverse effects by air pollution during early childhood.
The Etiologic Mechanisms for air pollution effects in the Infant Lung (EMIL) cohort was recruited among children born in Stockholm city between 2014 and 2017, identified through the Swedish birth register. The recruitment strategy focused on households residing on streets with low or high air pollution concentration. Data on residential characteristics, socio-economic, lifestyle factors and health were collected via parental questionnaires when children were 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years of age, along with clinical examinations at the same ages. In addition, pulmonary function testing was performed during the clinical visit at around 6 months of age.
At the time when a child turned 1 year, parents received an invitation to participate in personal measurements of black carbon. Sampling took place during April 2016–June 2017.
Anchor: Main sub-projectsAir pollution exposure during infancy affects lung function later in life, but no study has investigated such exposure in relation to infant forced expiratory flows.
To assess associations between air pollution exposure and infant lung function.
Air pollution exposure was associated with impaired infant lung function measures related to airway calibre and lung volume.
Björn Lundberg, MD, PhD
Olena Gruzieva, associate professor
Kristina Eneroth, PhD
Erik Melén, professor
Åsa Persson, PhD
Jenny Hallberg, PhD
Göran Pershagen, professor
Experimental studies show that short-term exposure to air pollution may alter cytokine concentrations, as well as certain metabolic features. There is, however, a lack of epidemiological studies evaluating the associations between long-term air pollution exposure and inflammation and metabolic features in young children, along with their relevance for infant lung function.
To examine whether air pollution exposure is associated with inflammation as well as metabolomic biomarkers during the first 2 years of life. Further, to study the interplay between air pollution exposure and these biomarkers on lung function in 6-months-old infants.
Our results showed that preceding air pollution exposure was longitudinally associated with inflammation-related proteins during early childhood, in age and sex-specific manner. Further, early life air pollution exposure and abnormal inflammation-related protein profiles interact synergistically towards lower lung function in infants. Further, analyses of plasma metabolomic markers in relation to air pollution exposure as well as child lung function are ongoing.
Shizhen He, postdoc
Zhebin Yu, postdoc
Susanna Klevebro, MD, PhD
Goran Pershagen, professor
Matteo Bottai, professor
Craig Wheelock, senior researcher
Erik Melén, professor
Olena Gruzieva, associate professor
Short-term studies of health effects from ambient air pollution usually rely on fixed site monitoring data or spatio-temporal models for exposure characterization, but the relation to personal exposure is often not known.
To quantify the short-term agreement of personal exposure measurements with observed BC levels at fixed-site monitors, and the long-term agreement with dispersion-model estimates of BC levels at the residential and work addresses, as well as exploring the effect of employment status and other possible predictors of personal exposure to BC.
Short-term residential levels of outdoor levels of black carbon could be predicted by concurrent ambient urban monitoring concentrations, in particular as a 24-h average. Furthermore, BC exposure levels modelled with dispersion modelling can be used as surrogates of population exposures in long-term studies based on spatial differences. Also, outdoor BC levels in the present study were comparable with indoor levels.
Olena Gruzieva, associate professor
Antonios Georgelis, associate professor
Niklas Andersson, statistician
Christer Johansson, professor
Tom Bellander, professor
Anne-Sophie Merritt, PhD
Olena Gruzieva, principal investigator, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
Göran Pershagen, Professor Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
Anne-Sophie Merritt, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Region Stockholm
Niklas Andersson, statistician, Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet
André Lauber, IT-coordinator, Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Region Stockholm
The Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Anchor: CollaboratorsWe welcome potential collaborators. Please contact the project leader to express your interest.
More info at: Välkommen till EMIL | Karolinska Institutet
Anchor: contactsOlena Gruzieva, MD, Associate Professor
The Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm
olena.gruzieva@ki.se
+46 8 52480022
He S, et al. Joint association of air pollution exposure and inflammation-related proteins in relation to infant lung function. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2024 Jan;255:114294. doi: 10.1016/j.ijheh.2023.114294. PMID: 37952388.
Gruzieva O, et al. Comparison of personal exposure to black carbon levels with fixed-site monitoring data and with dispersion modelling and the influence of activity patterns and environment. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol. 2024 May;34(3):538-545. doi: 10.1038/s41370-024-00653-2. Epub 2024 Feb 22. PMID: 38388654.
He S, et al. Ambient air pollution and inflammation-related proteins during early childhood. Environ Res. 2022 Dec;215(Pt 2):114364. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114364. PMID: 36126692.
Lundberg B, et al. Air pollution exposure impairs lung function in infants. Acta Paediatr. 2022 Sep;111(9):1788-1794. doi: 10.1111/apa.16412. PMID: 35582781.
Gruzieva O, et al. Comparison of measured residential black carbon levels outdoors and indoors with fixed-site monitoring data and with dispersion modelling. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Apr;28(13):16264-16271. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-12134-8. PMID: 33341921.
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