Respiratory Responses in Humans Repeatedly Exposed to Low Concentrations of Ozone1–3

Abstract

The effect of repeated daily exposure to a low concentration of ozone was studied in healthy adult males to answer 2 questions: (1) Is there a cumulative effect of exposure to ozone from day to day, causing an exacerbation of changes in pulmonary function? (2) Does the subject develop resistance or adaptation to the respiratory effects of ozone? The subjects were exposed for 2 h in an environmental chamber at 35° C and 45 % relative humidity to filtered air on day 1, to ozone on days 2 through 4, and to filtered air on day 5. Three groups of subjects were used, each exposed to a different concentration of ozone: group 1 (n = 10), 0.20 ppm of ozone; group 2 (n = 10), 0.35 ppm of ozone; group 3 (n = 8), 0.50 ppm of ozone. There were no acute or cumulative effects of repeated exposure to 0.20 ppm of ozone. With exposure to 0.35 ppm of ozone, there were decrements in forced expiratory parameters on day 2. These changes were greater on day 3, but were largely absent on days 4 and 5. In group 3, there were mark...