Tufts Institute of the Environment (TIE) Graduate Student Fellowship Report and Final Budget Account Residential traffic, systemic inflammation and hypertension in older adults

This TIE Fellowship report summarizes the methods employed and preliminary results and conclusions of a project to investigate whether C-reactive protein (CRP), a measure of systemic inflammation that has been associated with cardiovascular disease as well as several other chronic health conditions, is a meaningful biomarker of exposure to vehicle emissions for people living in close proximity to highways. In addition, the potential mediating effects of variation in the CRP gene and pre-existing health conditions were explored. Other measures of stress (hypertension, epinephrine, norepinephrine, salivary cortisol) and inflammation (albumin, homocysteine, white blood cell count) were also evaluated with respect to traffic exposure. The final budget account is included at the end.