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Differential effects of PM2.5 and its carbon components on blood pressure in hypertensive and non-hypertensive populations: a panel study in Beijing

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Abstract

Published literature considering the association between ambient air pollution and blood pressure is highly inconsistent, which may be explained by the different proportions of susceptible subpopulations. We hypothesized that hypertensive patients are more sensitive to air pollution due to the disruption of neurohumoral system. The study aimed to reveal the association between PM2.5 and its carbon components and blood pressure, and whether this association is modified by hypertension status. We conducted a panel study in Beijing, China. Four repeated measurements were performed from 2016 to 2018. Linear mixed-effects models and generalized additive mixed models were performed to investigate the associations between PM2.5 and its carbon components and blood pressure. Subgroup analyses were performed by hypertension status to reveal potential effect modification. Among hypertensive patients, for every 1 μg/m3 increment of PM2.5, TC, OC, and EC in 1-day to 2-day MA, SBP increased from 0.16 mmHg (95% CI, 0.03 to 0.29) to 6.75 mmHg (95% CI, 2.82 to 10.68), and PP increased from 0.14 mmHg (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.26) to 6.03% (95% CI, 2.46 to 9.59%), but no significant association was observed among non-hypertensive subjects. The p values for the interaction between pollutants and hypertension status in 1-day to 2-day MA were less than 0.05. These findings suggest that hypertensive patients may be more susceptible to the adverse effects of air pollution than non-hypertensive subjects, which might provide guidance to hypertensive patients living in areas with high levels of particle pollution.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

BP:

Blood pressure

PM2.5 :

Particulate matter in aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm

OC:

Organic carbon

EC:

Elemental carbon

SBP:

Systolic blood pressure

DBP:

Diastolic blood pressure

PP:

Pulse pressure

MAP:

Mean arterial pressure

MA:

Moving average

LME:

Linear mixed-effects

GAMM:

Generalized additive mixed models

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Funding

This study was supported by the China Medical Board (Grant No. 15-230); the China Prospective cohort study of Air pollution and health effects in Typical areas (C-PAT) (Grant No. MEE-EH- 20190802).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, National Clinical Research Center for Immunologic Diseases, Beijing, 100730, China

    Xue Wang

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Basic Medicine Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100005, China

    Ang Li, Meiduo Zhao, Jing Xu, Yayuan Mei & Qun Xu

  3. Center of Environmental and Health Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100005, China

    Ang Li, Meiduo Zhao, Jing Xu, Yayuan Mei & Qun Xu

Authors
  1. Xue Wang
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  2. Ang Li
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  3. Meiduo Zhao
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  4. Jing Xu
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  5. Yayuan Mei
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  6. Qun Xu
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Contributions

Xue Wang: data curation, software programming, writing—original draft preparation; Ang Li, Meiduo Zhao, Jing Xu, and Yayuan Mei: investigation; Qun Xu: conceptualization, supervision, project administration

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qun Xu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

This study was supported by the China Medical Board (Grant No. 15-230); the China Prospective cohort study of Air pollution and health effects in Typical areas (C-PAT) (Grant No. MEE-EH-20190802. Written informed consent was obtained prior to each visit after a complete description of the study was provided.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Participants signed informed consent regarding publishing their data.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Wang, ., Li, A., Zhao, M. et al. Differential effects of PM2.5 and its carbon components on blood pressure in hypertensive and non-hypertensive populations: a panel study in Beijing. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 123226–123236 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30532-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-30532-6

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