Abstract
BackgroundThe association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and blood pressure has been inconsistent, as reported in the literature.ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the relationship between short-term ambient air pollution exposure and patient-level home blood pressure (HBP).MethodsPatients with chronic cardiovascular diseases from a telehealth care program at a university-affiliated hospital were enrolled as the study population. HBP was measured by patients or their caregivers. Hourly meteorological data (including temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and rainfall) and ambient air pollution monitoring data (including CO, NO2, particulate matter with a diameter of <10 µm, particulate matter with a diameter of <2.5 µm, and SO2) during the same time period were obtained from the Central Weather Bureau and the Environmental Protection Administration in Taiwan, respectively. A stepwise multivariate repeated generalized estimating equation model was used to assess the significant factors for predicting systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP).ResultsA total of 253 patients and 110,715 HBP measurements were evaluated in this study. On multivariate analysis, demographic, clinical, meteorological factors, and air pollutants significantly affected the HBP (both SBP and DBP). All 5 air pollutants evaluated in this study showed a significant, nonlinear association with both home SBP and DBP. Compared with demographic and clinical factors, environmental factors (meteorological factors and air pollutants) played a minor yet significant role in the regulation of HBP.ConclusionsShort-term exposure to ambient air pollution significantly affects HBP in patients with chronic cardiovascular disease.
Highlights
Air pollution is a great hazard to public health [1,2,3,4,5]
Hypertension is among the most prominent risk factors contributing to cardiovascular diseases, and the potential detrimental effect of air pollution on blood pressure (BP) is considered one of the mechanisms underlying the exacerbation in cardiovascular outcomes
We aimed to evaluate the effect of short-term exposure to ambient air pollution on patient-level home blood pressure (HBP)
Summary
Previous studies have shown that long-term exposure to ambient air pollution increases respiratory morbidity and cardiopulmonary disease–related mortality [6,7], while short-term exposure increases cardiovascular disease–related mortality and nonfatal events [8]. Hypertension is among the most prominent risk factors contributing to cardiovascular diseases, and the potential detrimental effect of air pollution on blood pressure (BP) is considered one of the mechanisms underlying the exacerbation in cardiovascular outcomes. The association between short-term or long-term exposure to ambient air pollution and BP has been inconsistent in previous studies, and most of these studies were epidemiological [9,10,11,12]. The association between short-term exposure to ambient air pollution and blood pressure has been inconsistent, as reported in the literature
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