Glomerular Function in Relation to Fine Airborne Particulate Matter in a Representative Population Sample

From 1990 until 2017, global air-pollution related mortality increased by 40%. Few studies addressed the renal responses to ultrafine particulate [≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5)], including black carbon (BC), which penetrate into the blood stream. In a Flemish population study, glomerular filtration estimated from serum creatinine (eGFR) and the urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio were measured in 2005-2009 in 820 participants (women, 50.7%; age, 51.1 years) with follow-up of 523 after 4.7 years (median). Serum creatinine, eGFR, chronic kidney disease (eGFR < 60 mL/min/1.73 m) and microalbuminuria (> 3.5/> 2.5 mg per mmol creatinine in women/men) were correlated in individual participants via their residential address with PM [median 13.1 (range 0.3-2.9) μg/m] and BC [1.1 (0.3-18) μg/m], using mixed models accounting for address clusters. Cross-sectional and longitudinally, no renal outcome was associated with PM or BC in models adjusted for sex and baseline or time varying covariables, including age, blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index, plasma glucose, the total-to-HDL serum cholesterol ratio, alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity, socioeconomic class, and antihypertensive treatment. The subject-level geocorrelations of eGFR change with to BC and PM2.5 were 0.13 and 0.02, respectively (P ≥ 0.68). In conclusion, in a population with moderate exposure, renal function was unrelated to ultrafine particulate.