title: Long-term urban particulate air pollution, traffic noise, and arterial blood pressure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  RESULTS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Research Institute for Environmental Medicine, Düsseldorf, Germany. kateryna.fuks@uni-duesseldorf.de
authors.forename: Kateryna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fuks
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moebus
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hertel
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viehmann
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nonnemacher
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dragano
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Möhlenkamp
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jakobs
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Erbel
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008956:Models, Chemical; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009624:Noise, Transportation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects*; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter