Hyo-Bin Kim,1 Hyeyeun Lim,2 Sangrok Kim,2 So-Yeon Lee,2 Hwan-Cheol Kim,3 Mi-Jin Kang,2 Minjee Park,2
Sungsu Jung,4 Jisun Yoon,5 Hyun-Ju Cho,6 Song-I Yang,7 Soo-Jong Hong2

1 Department of Pediatrics, Inje University Sanggye Paik Hospital, Seoul, Korea
2 Department of Pediatrics, Childhood Asthma Atopy Center, Environmental Health Center, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
3 Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea
4 Department of Pediatrics, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea
5 Department of Pediatrics, Chung-Ang University Gwang-Myeong Hospital, Chung-Ang University College of Medicine, Gwang-Myeong, Korea
6 Department of Pediatrics, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic Kwandong University Hospital, Incheon, Korea
7 Department of Pediatrics, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang, Korea

Abstract

Background: Exposure to particulate matter (PM) has been known to develop asthma in children and the oxidative stress-related mechanisms are suggested. For the development of asthma, not only the exposure dose but also the critical window and the risk modifying factors should be evaluated.
Objective: We investigated whether prenatal exposure to PM10 increases the risk of childhood asthma and evaluated the modifying factors, such as gender and reactive oxidative stress-related gene.
Methods: A general population-based birth cohort, the Panel Study of Korean Children (PSKC), including 1572 mother-baby dyads was analyzed. Children were defined to have asthma at age 7 when a parent reported physician-diagnosed asthma. Exposure to PM10 during pregnancy was estimated by land-use regression models based on national monitoring system. TaqMan method was used for genotyping nuclear factor, erythroid 2-related factor, NRF2 (rs6726395). A logistic Bayesian distributed lag interaction model (BDLIM) was used to evaluate the associations between prenatal PM10 exposure and childhood asthma by gender and NRF2.
Results: Exposure to PM10 during pregnancy was associated with the development of asthma (aOR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00-1.06). Stratifying by gender and NRF2 genotype, exposure to PM10 during 26-28 weeks gestation increased the risk of childhood asthma, especially in boys with NRF2 GG genotype.
Conclusion: A critical window for PM10 exposure on the development of childhood asthma was during 26-28 weeks of gestation, and this was modified by gender and NRF2 genotype.
Key words: asthma, gender, gene, NRF2, particulate matter, pregnancy