title: Blood pressure in relation to contamination by polychlorobiphenyls and organochlorine pesticides: Results from a population-based study in the Canary Islands (Spain).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Epidemiological studies have reported significant associations between exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and increased blood pressure (BP). Environmental exposure to POPs, mainly organochlorine pesticides, is of concern to the population of the Canary Islands, who display a high prevalence of diseases associated with hypertension such as metabolic syndrome, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We performed this population-based study in a representative population sample from this archipelago to evaluate whether serum levels of selected POPs could be considered as hypertension risk factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  BP and several other well-known factors related to hypertension (gender, age, smoking, BMI, and total lipids) were recorded in 428 adult participants from the Canary Islands Nutritional Survey. In total, 28 POPs (including 18 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and 10 organochlorine pesticides and metabolites) were measured in the serum of the population enrolled in this survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In total, 167 subjects (39%) demonstrated hypertension or used antihypertensive medication. We observed a positive association between systolic and diastolic BP and p,p'-DDE (r=0.222; p<0.001, and r=0.123; p=0.015, respectively). Conversely, an inverse association between systolic BP and aldrin was observed (r=-0.120; p=0.017). After adjusting for known confounders, only aldrin was inversely related to hypertension risk [OR: 0.28 (95% CI: 0.09-0.92); p=0.037]. After excluding subjects undergoing anti-hypertensive treatment, we also observed that aldrin was inversely associated with systolic BP in multivariate analyses, especially in men [OR: 0.126 (95% CI: 0.021-0.763); p=0.024].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although it has been postulated that background POPs exposure may play a relevant role on elevated BP, we did not observed increased hypertension risk in relation to serum POPs in this cross-sectional study. Conversely, the cyclodiene pesticide aldrin was negatively associated with hypertension, suggesting that cyclodienes could exert an effect opposite of the DDT metabolites. These findings agree with other previous works indicating that POPs may induce divergent actions on BP and suggest that the direction of the association between BP and POPs could be dependent on the chemical structure as well as concentration of the evaluated POP. Prospective studies are needed to clarify the effect exerted by POPs on BP.
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; Radiation Oncology Department, Hospital Universitario de Gran Canaria Dr Negrín, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Henríquez-Hernández
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Octavio P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Luzardo
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zumbado
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.affiliation: Preventive Medicine Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Lluis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serra-Majem
authors.affiliation: Preventive Medicine Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain; Preventive Medicine Service, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular-Materno Infantil, Canary Health Service, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Eva E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Álvarez-León
authors.affiliation: Toxicology Unit, Clinical Sciences Department, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Instituto Canario de Investigación del Cáncer (ICIC), and Spanish Biomedical Research Centre in Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBERObn), Plaza Dr. Pasteur s/n, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Electronic address: luis.boada@ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: Luis D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Boada
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D006973:Hypertension / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010575:Pesticides / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000097:blood / Q000633:toxicity*; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D010575:Pesticides; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Blood pressure; Canary Islands; Organochlorine pesticides; Persistent organic pollutants; Polychlorinated biphenyls