New Study Pushes Boundaries

For a researcher, any scientific publication is a source of pride. Dr. Gillian Goobie believes that her recent JAMA Internal Medicine article has the potential to broaden the scientific conversation of the role of air pollution in causing ILDs.

pollution known as particulate matter 2.5 (PM 2.5), which means particles smaller than 2.5 microns.

Some PM 2.5s occur naturally, while others come from human sources of pollution, including steel and coal production, agriculture, and traffic fumes. Dr. Goobie developed an exposure-matching technique that can break PM 2.5 data down into seven components. “The three that really jumped out at us were sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium, all of which are derived from human activities,” she says. “We found that patients who lived in high-exposure areas to these specific components had much higher mortality rates than patients in lowerexposure areas.”

Looking Ahead: Better Air Quality?

Dr. Goobie’s work continues, and she has a related paper currently going through the peer-review process. She hopes her work can be used to advocate for air-quality improvements. “Everyone should be able to live, work, and play in a healthy environment,” she says. “What we need is more stringent public health and environmental policy to prevent these exposures for future generations, which will impact everyone, not only patients with ILD.”

This project was funded by The Peter L. O’Neill Memorial Fund.

Dr. Goobie’s study, which used data from the PFF Patient Registry, is:

• The largest and most geographically diverse of its type

• The first study to look at the composition of PM 2.5 molecules

• One of only a few pollution-related studies to examine patients with many different forms of ILD