Objective: This experiment was designed to test if controlled exposure to particles and ozone would result in decreased heart rate variability (HRV).
Methods: Five asthmatic adults were exposed for 4 hours to; filtered-air, carbon and ammonium nitrate particles, and particles and ozone. Twenty-minute electrocardiograms were obtained before and after each exposure.
Results: Standard deviation of all normal-to-normal beat intervals (SDNN) decreased significantly across particles and ozone exposure compared with across filtered-air exposure (P = 0.01). Changes in SDNN-I (P = 0.04) and normalized low and high frequency (P = 0.02) were also seen across particles and ozone exposure; although these changes may best be characterized as trends given the small sample size. No significant changes in HRV were seen across the filtered-air or particles-only exposures.
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that combined particle and ozone exposure may decrease HRV in asthmatics. Further investigation is needed to confirm this finding.