Traffic air pollution and transplant failure
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Traffic air pollution and transplant failure
IRAS ID
135158
Contact name
Paul Cullinan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Joint Research Compliance Office, Imperial College
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Survival rates for some solid organ transplants remain low, and for all transplants late failure is a major clinical problem. In 2011 Tim Nawrot and colleagues published a study of 281 patients who underwent lung transplantation between 1997 and 2009 in Belgium. Using proximity of the home to a major road as an index of exposure, they reported a strong association between traffic pollution and both bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and all-cause mortality following transplant. This relationship appears to be important; the question is whether it is indeed a ‘causal’ one or, rather, that it is reflective of some unmeasured confounding variable.
We propose a study of all solid organ transplants in the UK between 2000 and 2008 using demographic and survival data from the NHS Blood and Transplant registry (NHSBT). We hypothesise that exposure to traffic-derived pollution will be related to post-transplant survival in those who have undergone lung – but not other (solid) organ - transplantation. We will use known address at transplant to assign an exposure estimate from traffic and distance-from-road metrics as well as air pollution models. Using statistical modelling we will then examine the relation between time to failure (mortality) and exposure to traffic air pollutants controlling for potential confounders including age, sex and estimated socio-economic status.REC name
London - West London & GTAC Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/2042
Date of REC Opinion
2 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion