Association Between Particulate Matter and COPD Among Adults in Alaska

Exposure to high levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is emerging as a crucial risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a deadly lung disease with a significant public health burden. The Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB) in Alaska has one of the worst PM2.5 issues in the United States. The PM2.5 issues in the area are associated with increased wood-burning and temperature inversions in the winter and wildfires in the summer. Given these prevailing PM2.5 issues, this quantitative study was conducted using Alaska BRFSS datasets and a chi-square test to compare the COPD prevalence in the FNSB with the COPD prevalence in Anchorage municipality with low PM2.5 levels to determine whether exposure to high levels of PM2.5 was associated with high COPD prevalence. The associations of the socioecological model’s environmental-level factors like PM2.5 exposure and intrapersonal-level factors like gender with COPD were also evaluated using logistic regression. Whether smoking, age, gender, educational level, employment status, and income confounded and modified these associations was investigated. The difference in the COPD prevalence between the two areas was minimal and statistically nonsignificant. The association between COPD and PM2.5 exposure was also statistically nonsignificant (OR= 1.179, p-value = .118, and 95% CI = .959 to 1.448). However, smoking, gender, and annual income significantly modified the association. Also, the association between COPD and gender was statistically nonsignificant (OR = 1.170, p-value = .166, and 95% CI = .937 to 1.460) after adjusting for confounders. The effect modification results can be used to create educational materials to increase awareness about the association between COPD and PM2.5 exposure in the FNSB.