Associations of Carbonaceous Compounds and Water-Soluble Inorganic Ions in Ambient PM2.5 with Renal Function in Older Individuals: The China BAPE Study

Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is proven to be associated with a decline in renal function. However, few studies have explored the acute renal damage from carbonaceous compounds and water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs), which constitute the bulk of total PM2.5 mass. We examined the acute effect of these constituents of ambient PM2.5 on renal function in older Chinese individuals. Seventy-one healthy people aged 60–69 years from Jinan, China, were enrolled and visited monthly and asked to complete survey questionnaires, undergo physical exams, and provide blood samples. The hourly concentrations of organic carbon, elemental carbon (EC), and WSIIs in ambient PM2.5 were collected from a fixed-site monitoring station. The association between PM2.5 constituents and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was evaluated using linear mixed-effects models after controlling for a series of covariates. We observed that ambient carbonaceous compounds and WSIIs were associated with a significant decline in renal function. The interquartile range increased in the 24 h moving average of carbonaceous compounds, and WSIIs in ambient PM2.5 were associated with −13.11% [95% confidence interval (95% CI): −19.49, −6.21%] to −0.81% (95% CI: −4.17, 2.67%) changes in eGFR. We found significant associations between EC, chlorine (Cl–), sodium (Na+), and magnesium (Mg2+) and eGFR in single-pollutant, constituent-PM2.5, and residual-constituent models with a lag period of 0–24 h. This study demonstrated that carbonaceous compounds and WSIIs in PM2.5 were inversely associated with renal function.