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Long-term urban particulate air pollution, traffic noise, and arterial blood pressure
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Long-term urban particulate air pollution, traffic noise, and arterial blood pressure

Kateryna Fuks, Susanne Moebus, Sabine Hertel, Anja Viehmann, Michael Nonnemacher, Nico Dragano, Stefan Möhlenkamp, Hermann Jakobs, Christoph Kessler, Raimund Erbel, …
Environmental health perspectives, v 119(12), pp 1706-1711
Dec 2011
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1103564
PMID: 21827977
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
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Long-Term Urban Particulate Air Pollution, Traffic Noise, and Arterial Blood Pressure382.66 kBDownloadView
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Abstract

Aged Blood Pressure - physiology Cohort Studies Cross-Sectional Studies Humans Middle Aged Models, Chemical Models, Statistical Noise, Transportation - adverse effects Particle Size Particulate Matter - adverse effects Urban Health - statistics & numerical data Germany
Recent studies have shown an association of short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) with transient increases in blood pressure (BP), but it is unclear whether long-term exposure has an effect on arterial BP and hypertension. We investigated the cross-sectional association of residential long-term PM exposure with arterial BP and hypertension, taking short-term variations of PM and long-term road traffic noise exposure into account. We used baseline data (2000-2003) on 4,291 participants, 45-75 years of age, from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, a population-based prospective cohort in Germany. Urban background exposure to PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM(2.5)) and ≤ 10 μm (PM(10)) was assessed with a dispersion and chemistry transport model. We used generalized additive models, adjusting for short-term PM, meteorology, traffic proximity, and individual risk factors. An interquartile increase in PM2.5 (2.4 μg/m(3)) was associated with estimated increases in mean systolic and diastolic BP of 1.4 mmHg [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.5, 2.3] and 0.9 mmHg (95% CI: 0.4, 1.4), respectively. The observed relationship was independent of long-term exposure to road traffic noise and robust to the inclusion of many potential confounders. Residential proximity to high traffic and traffic noise exposure showed a tendency toward higher BP and an elevated prevalence of hypertension. We found an association of long-term exposure to PM with increased arterial BP in a population-based sample. This finding supports our hypothesis that long-term PM exposure may promote atherosclerosis, with air-pollution-induced increases in BP being one possible biological pathway.

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152 citations in Web of Science
166 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Environmental Sciences
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Toxicology
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