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Association of consumption of excess hard water, body mass index and waist circumference with risk of hypertension in individuals living in hard and soft water areas

Environmental Geochemistry and Health volume 41, pages 1213–1221 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Chronic exposure to soft drinking water increases the risk of hypertension. We conducted a cross-sectional study in 2017 in two study areas in the Poldasht County to assess the relation of hardness, body mass index and waist circumference with risk of hypertension. Total water hardness was measured by gravimetric methods. Hardness of > 180 ppm was considered to be hard drinking water. The Shiblu and Gharghologh areas had a four times higher mean total hardness level in drinking water (968.69 mg/L as CaCO3) than the Sarisoo and Agh Otlogh (180 mg/L as CaCO3) areas. According to the results of the study, the prehypertension prevalence in areas with high and low water hardness was calculated as 23.15% (18.11–29.15) and 46.84% (37.61–57.64), respectively. Moreover, the result showed the prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension was higher in regions with low hardness than those with high hardness, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The results of logistic regression showed that age, body mass index, waist circumference and hardness of drinking water were significantly related to hypertension. Accordingly, hypertension was low in people of regions with high hardness (OR 0.26, 0.17–0.42). This report examined whether total hardness in drinking water was protective against hypertension. This is an important finding for the ministry of human health as well as for the water and sewage company.

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Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank authorities of Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences for their comprehensive support for this study.

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Affiliations

  1. Students Research Committee, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran

    Mahmood Yousefi

  2. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mahmood Yousefi

  3. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran

    Hossein Najafi Saleh

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mehdi Yaseri

  5. Department of Epidemiology, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, Iran

    Mohsen Jalilzadeh

  6. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran

    Ali Akbar Mohammadi

Authors
  1. Mahmood Yousefi
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  2. Hossein Najafi Saleh
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  3. Mehdi Yaseri
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  4. Mohsen Jalilzadeh
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  5. Ali Akbar Mohammadi
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Correspondence to Ali Akbar Mohammadi.

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Yousefi, M., Najafi Saleh, H., Yaseri, M. et al. Association of consumption of excess hard water, body mass index and waist circumference with risk of hypertension in individuals living in hard and soft water areas. Environ Geochem Health 41, 1213–1221 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0206-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0206-9

Keywords

  • Water hardness
  • Body mass index
  • Waist circumference
  • Hypertension