Effects of ozone exposure at ambient air pollution episode levels on exercise performance.

Ozone is a principal component of photochemical air pollution endogenous to numerous metropolitan areas, which may induce irritant effects on the respiratory tract which impair pulmonary function, result in subjective symptoms of respiratory discomfort, including cough and shortness of breath, and can limit exercise performance. The effects of moderate ambient photochemical air pollution observed in a mobile laboratory have also been shown to be similar to those induced in laboratory chamber exposures to the same level of ozone alone. The metabolic demand of exercise increases minute ventilation (VE) and thus, the rate of ozone inhalation over that at rest. Potentially, exercise can also enhance the effects of ozone by: (a) reducing nasal passage absorption; (b) increasing the uniformity of ventilation throughout the lungs; and (c) replacing reacted ozone at a faster rate. However, results from 2-hour intermittent exercise and 1-hour continuous exercise exposures at the same total ventilation and ozone concentration have been shown to yield similar pulmonary function effects. It has been shown via significant variation in exercise intensity, and thus VE, that the simple product of ozone concentration, VE and exposure time (termed the ozone effective dose) predicts pulmonary function and exercise ventilatory pattern (induced rapid, shallow breathing) effects more precisely than ozone concentration alone. Better prediction of pulmonary function effects has been achieved via multiple regression analysis in which ozone concentration is given a greater weighting than VE and exposure time. Light intermittent exercise was first studied in 2-hour laboratory exposures to ozone at concentrations rarely seen in the ambient environment. In recent studies, heavy continuous exercise has been used in 1-hour exposures to ozone at levels routinely observed in photochemical episodes (less than or equal to 0.35 ppm). Statistically significant impairment of exercise performance has been observed at 0.18 ppm, a level reached for 1 hour, or more, on about 180 days per year in the Los Angeles basin. Responses of subpopulation groups, such as children, young adult females, older adults, and those with pre-existing pulmonary disease are not notably different from those of young adult males provided that the ozone effective dose is proportional to body size. Conversely, highly trained endurance athletes demonstrate significant responses at rather low ozone concentrations due to their ability to sustain very high VE over prolonged periods.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)