Relationship between long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water and the prevalence of abnormal blood pressure

Abstract

Arsenic increases the risk and incidence of cardiovascular disease. To explore the impact of long-term exposure to low-level arsenic in drinking water on blood pressure including pulse pressure (PP) and mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), a cross-sectional study was conducted in 2010 in which the blood pressure of 405 villagers was measured, who had been drinking water with an inorganic arsenic content <50μg/L. A multivariate logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. After adjusting for age, gender, Body Mass Index (BMI), alcohol consumption and smoking, the odds ratios showed a 1.45-fold (95%CI: 0.63–3.35) increase in the group with >30–50 years of arsenic exposure and a 2.95-fold (95%CI: 1.31–6.67) increase in the group with >50 years exposure. Furthermore, the odds ratio for prevalence of abnormal PP and MAP were 1.06 (95%CI: 0.24–4.66) and 0.87 (95%CI: 0.36–2.14) in the group with >30–50 years of exposure, and were 2.46 (95%CI: 0.87–6.97) and 3.75 (95%CI: 1.61–8.71) for the group with >50 years exposure, compared to the group with arsenic exposure ≤30 years respectively. Significant trends for Hypertension (p<0.0001), PP (p<0.0001) and MAP (p=0.0016) were found. The prevalence of hypertension and abnormal PP as well as MAP is marked among a low-level arsenic exposure population, and significantly increases with the duration of arsenic exposure.