AH-INT-208

This substudy is part of a larger work in which we have explored sex differences in responses to air pollution, both at the molecular level and at the population level. We have identified a metabolic signature associated with acute PM2.5 exposure, with the maximal response observed on the day of exposure. Interestingly, females are up to almost twice as likely to exhibit this metabolic pattern, which is linked to long-term cardiovascular complications. We also found a protective effect of anti-inflammatory drugs (e.g., aspirin) and an increased risk associated with pro-inflammatory conditions (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis). At the population level, we have shown that females appear to experience cardiac complications from air pollution more than males, confirming our original findings.

We endeavour to expand our analysis for the final draft of our manuscript, to 1) include a validation study of our identified metabolites using the Airwave cohort, and 2) expand the analysis to omics that were not measured in our original cohort (BioHEART), to investigate other similar patterns, supporting the hypothesis that females are more susceptible to air pollution complications.