title: Residential proximity to major roadways and prevalent hypertension among postmenopausal women: results from the Women's Health Initiative San Diego Cohort.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Living near major roadways has been linked with increased risk of cardiovascular events and worse prognosis. Residential proximity to major roadways may also be associated with increased risk of hypertension, but few studies have evaluated this hypothesis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examined the cross-sectional association between residential proximity to major roadways and prevalent hypertension among 5401 postmenopausal women enrolled into the San Diego cohort of the Women's Health Initiative. We used modified Poisson regression with robust error variance to estimate the association between prevalence of hypertension and residential distance to nearest major roadway, adjusting for participant demographics, medical history, indicators of individual and neighborhood socioeconomic status, and for local supermarket/grocery and fast food/convenience store density. The adjusted prevalence ratios for hypertension were 1.22 (95% CI: 1.07, 1.39), 1.13 (1.00, 1.27), and 1.05 (0.99, 1.12) for women living ≤100, >100 to 200, and >200 to 1000 versus >1000 m from a major roadway (P for trend=0.006). In a model treating the natural log of distance to major roadway as a continuous variable, a shift in distance from 1000 to 100 m from a major roadway was associated with a 9% (3%, 16%) higher prevalence of hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this cohort of postmenopausal women, residential proximity to major roadways was positively associated with the prevalence of hypertension. If causal, these results suggest that living close to major roadways may be an important novel risk factor for hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (K.K., M.N.E., Y.W., C.B.E., G.A.W.) Department of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Moi University School of Public Health, Eldoret, Kenya (K.K.).
authors.forename: Kipruto
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kirwa
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (K.K., M.N.E., Y.W., C.B.E., G.A.W.).
authors.forename: Melissa N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Eliot
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (K.K., M.N.E., Y.W., C.B.E., G.A.W.).
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Exercise and Wellness Program, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ (M.A.A.).
authors.forename: Marc A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA (C.G.M., J.K., G.J.N., M.A.A.).
authors.forename: Cindy G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA (C.G.M., J.K., G.J.N., M.A.A.).
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA (C.G.M., J.K., G.J.N., M.A.A.).
authors.forename: Gregory J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (K.K., M.N.E., Y.W., C.B.E., G.A.W.).
authors.forename: Charles B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Eaton
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, CA (C.G.M., J.K., G.J.N., M.A.A.).
authors.forename: Matthew A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Allison
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, RI (K.K., M.N.E., Y.W., C.B.E., G.A.W.).
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Wellenius
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D001336:Automobiles; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016014:Linear Models; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017698:Postmenopause; D015995:Prevalence; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
keywords: environment; hypertension; traffic pollution; women