Abstract
Emerging evidence suggests long-term exposure to ultrafine particulate matter (UFP, aerodynamic diameter < 0.1 µm) is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. We investigated whether annual average UFP exposure was associated with measured systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and hypertension prevalence among 409 adults participating in the cross-sectional Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health (CAFEH) study. We used measurements of particle number concentration (PNC, a proxy for UFP) obtained from mobile monitoring campaigns in three near-highway and three urban background areas in and near Boston, Massachusetts to develop PNC regression models (20-m spatial and hourly temporal resolution). Individual modeled estimates were adjusted for time spent in different micro-environments (time-activity-adjusted PNC, TAA-PNC). Mean TAA-PNC was 22,000 particles/cm3 (sd = 6500). In linear models (logistic for hypertension) adjusted for the minimally sufficient set of covariates indicated by a directed acyclic graph (DAG), we found positive, non-significant associations between natural log-transformed TAA-PNC and SBP (β = 5.23, 95%CI: −0.68, 11.14 mmHg), PP (β = 4.27, 95%CI: −0.79, 9.32 mmHg), and hypertension (OR = 1.81, 95%CI: 0.94, 3.48), but not DBP (β = 0.96, 95%CI: −2.08, 4.00 mmHg). Associations were stronger among non-Hispanic white participants and among diabetics in analyses stratified by race/ethnicity and, separately, by health status.
Highlights
Ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure is associated with over four million deaths per year and evidence suggests that certain size fractions of PM are associated with increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular morbidity, and cardiovascular mortality [1,2,3,4,5,6]
Our objectives were: (1) to determine whether long-term exposure to time-activity-adjusted PNC (TAA-PNC) was associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and prevalent hypertension; and (2) to determine whether race/ethnicity, statin medication use, diabetes status, or hypertension status modified these associations
We examined the distribution of demographic factors and exposure estimates in our study population as a whole and stratified by race/ethnicity, statin medication use, and diabetes status
Summary
Ambient particulate matter (PM) exposure is associated with over four million deaths per year and evidence suggests that certain size fractions of PM are associated with increased risk of hypertension, cardiovascular morbidity, and cardiovascular mortality [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Few epidemiologic studies have considered the cardiovascular impacts of long-term exposure to the smallest size fraction of PM, Int. J. Res. Public Health 2018, 15, 2036; doi:10.3390/ijerph15092036 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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