ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AIR POLLUTION AND GLUTATHIONE
S-TRANSFERASE (GST) P1 ON ASTHMA AND WHEEZING AMONG
CHILDREN IN TAIWAN
AIR POLLUTION AND GSTP1ON ASTHMA AND WHEEZING IN CHILDREN
Bing-Fang Hwang, Department of Occupational Safety, College of Public Health,China Medical University, Taichung,Taiwan
Yungling Leo Lee,Institute of Preventive Medicine, College of Pubic Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei,
Taiwan
Background and Aims: There are limited studies on the role of interaction between exposure to ambient air pollution
and glutanthione-S-transferase (GST) P1 on the risk of asthma and wheezing among children, which provided suggestive, but inconclusive results. The present study was to assess the joint effect of air pollutants andGSTP1 on the risk of asthma and wheezing in Taiwan Children Health Study
Methods: We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study of 5,049 Taiwanese children in 2007. The studied
determinants were threeGSTP1 Ile105Val (rs 1695) genotypes (Ile-Ile; Ile-Val and Val-Val) and expoure to abmient air pollutants.We used routine air-pollution monitoring data for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxides (NO2), ozone
(O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm or less (PM2.5). The exposure
parameters were calculated using community annual average concentration. The effect estimates were presented as odds ratios (ORs) per interquartile changes for NO2, CO, SO2, PM2.5and O3.
Results: In a two-stage hierarchical model adjusting for confounding, the risk of asthma was decreased with PM2.5
(adjusted odds ratio (OR) 0.60; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.45, 0.82), and O3(OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.60, 0.90) among
ile105 homozygotes, but not among those at least one val105 allele (interaction p value=0.001 and 0.03, respectively). A similar tendency of effect modification between PM2.5and O3and GSTP1 on the risk of wheezing was found.
Conclusions: Children who carried ile105 variant allele may be protected from the increased risk of asthma and
