Exposure to air pollution is associated with adipokines in midlife women: The Study of Women's Health Across the Nation

This study examined the associations between ambient air pollution exposure, including fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), with serum levels of high molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin, leptin, and soluble leptin receptors (sOB-R) in midlife women. The analysis included 1551 participants from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (median age = 52.3 years) with adipokine data from 2002 to 2003. Annual air pollution exposures were assigned by linking residential addresses with high-resolution machine learning models at a 1-km2 resolution. Multivariable linear regression and Bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) were used to evaluate the associations for individual pollutants and pollutant mixtures. After adjusting for confounders in linear regression models, an interquartile range increase in PM2.5 (2.5 μg/m3) was associated with a 4.6 % lower HMW adiponectin level (95 % CI: −8.8 %, −0.3 %). Exposure to air pollutant mixtures showed negative associations with HMW adiponectin and positive associations with leptin levels in BKMR models. These findings suggest that exposures to PM2.5, NO2, and O3 are associated with adverse levels of adipokines, which may contribute to obesity-related outcomes. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and explore the underlying biological mechanisms. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.