Association between blood pressure and short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants in Beijing, China

Substantial evidences have pointed to a link between hypertension and air pollution. This explored the link between blood pressure and short-term exposure to ambient atmospheric pollutants in a heavily polluted city. A monitoring program was designed to continuously record physical examination data of 1796 participants in Beijing, China from 2013 to 2018, and the individual-level exposure of atmospheric pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, O3, and SO2) was estimated using land use regression model. A generalized additive mixed-effects model was applied within the investigation of the acute impacts of air pollutants on blood pressure, including systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, and mean arterial pressure. Air pollutant concentrations were found to be positively correlated with blood pressure levels after their adjustment for a number of demographic and meteorological elements, e.g. each 10 mu g/m3 increment of NO2 resulted in an increment in systolic blood pressure of 0.351 mm Hg (95th percentile confidence interval: 0.001, 0.701; p < 0.05). In addition, stronger associations were found among males and patients with hypertension, and the blood pressure level of outdoor workers was more susceptible to the changes in NO2 concentration. Generally, elevated concentrations of air pollutants contributed to increased levels of blood pressure.