Physical activity, black carbon exposure, and DNA methylation in the FOXP3 promoter

Clinical Epigenetics

Table 3 Among children with the upper tertile of exposure to BC, physical activity is associated with reduced lung function, whereas children with less BC exposure experience opposite effects

	Difference in methylation in active vs. non-active children β _estimate (95% confidence interval)
	Overall sample (n = 135)	Upper tertile BC^a (n = 33)	Lower 2/3 BC^a (n = 102)	p _interaction
FEV₁	2.72 (−1.14, 6.59)	−7.87 (−15.33, −0.42)	4.60 (0.21, 8.99)	0.09
FVC	1.25 (−2.25, 4.75)	−6.91 (−13.70, −0.13)	2.70 (−1.30, 6.70)	0.31
FEV₁/FVC	1.36 (−0.62, 3.33)	−1.09 (−5.03, 2.5)	1.90 (−0.49, 4.28)	NA
FEF_25−75%	8.07 (0.40, 15.74)	−6.59 (−23.0, 9.80)	9.60 (0.60, 18.60)	0.27

β _estimate represents the effect size or the difference in percent methylation when comparing active children to non-active children (reference). Models adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, BMI Z-score, asthma, atopy, secondhand smoke exposure, heating season, and BC concentration (only for overall sample model). Italicized values represent p value ≤0.05. P _interaction represents the p value for the interaction term between physical activity and BC
^aDichotomized at the upper tertile, 1790 ng/m³

ISSN: 1868-7083