Association of long-term exposure to local industry- and traffic-specific particulate matter with arterial blood pressure and incident hypertension.
Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) may lead to increased blood pressure (BP). The role of industry- and traffic-specific PM2.5 remains unclear.



We investigated the associations of residential long-term source-specific PM2.5 exposure with arterial BP and incident hypertension in the population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall cohort study.



We defined hypertension as systolic BP≥140mmHg, or diastolic BP≥90mmHg, or current use of BP lowering medication. Long-term concentrations of PM2.5 from all local sources (PM2.5ALL), local industry (PM2.5IND) and traffic (PM2.5TRA) were modeled with a dispersion and chemistry transport model (EURAD-CTM) with a 1km(2) resolution. We performed a cross-sectional analysis with BP and prevalent hypertension at baseline, using linear and logistic regression, respectively, and a longitudinal analysis with incident hypertension at 5-year follow-up, using Poisson regression with robust variance estimation. We adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, lifestyle, education, and major road proximity. Change in BP (mmHg), odds ratio (OR) and relative risk (RR) for hypertension were calculated per 1μg/m(3) of exposure concentration.



PM2.5ALL was highly correlated with PM2.5IND (Spearman's ρ=0.92) and moderately with PM2.5TRA (ρ=0.42). In adjusted cross-sectional analysis with 4539 participants, we found positive associations of PM2.5ALL with systolic (0.42 [95%-CI: 0.03, 0.80]) and diastolic (0.25 [0.04, 0.46]) BP. Higher, but less precise estimates were found for PM2.5IND (systolic: 0.55 [-0.05, 1.14]; diastolic: 0.35 [0.03, 0.67]) and PM2.5TRA (systolic: 0.88 [-1.55, 3.31]; diastolic: 0.41 [-0.91, 1.73]). We found crude positive association of PM2.5TRA with prevalence (OR 1.41 [1.10, 1.80]) and incidence of hypertension (RR 1.38 [1.03, 1.85]), attenuating after adjustment (OR 1.19 [0.90, 1.58] and RR 1.28 [0.94, 1.72]). We found no association of PM2.5ALL and PM2.5IND with hypertension.



Long-term exposures to all-source and industry-specific PM2.5 were positively related to BP. We could not separate the effects of industry-specific PM2.5 from all-source PM2.5. Estimates with traffic-specific PM2.5 were generally higher but inconclusive.
Environmental Epidemiology Group, Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, University Hospital of Düsseldorf, Umweltepidemiologie, POB 10 10 07, 40001 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: kateryna.fuks@uni-duesseldorf.de.
Kateryna B
KB
Fuks
Institute of Epidemiology of Ulm University, Helmholtzstrasse 16, 89081 Ulm, Germany. Electronic address: gudrun.weinmayr@uni-ulm.de.
Gudrun
G
Weinmayr
Environmental Epidemiology Group, Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, University Hospital of Düsseldorf, Umweltepidemiologie, POB 10 10 07, 40001 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: frauke.hennig@uni-duesseldorf.de.
Frauke
F
Hennig
Environmental Epidemiology Group, Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, University Hospital of Düsseldorf, Umweltepidemiologie, POB 10 10 07, 40001 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: liliana.tzivian@med.uni-duesseldorf.de.
Lilian
L
Tzivian
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: susanne.moebus@uk-essen.de.
Susanne
S
Moebus
Rhenish Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Cologne, Aachener Strasse 209, 50931 Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: hermann.jakobs@riu.uni-koeln.de.
Hermann
H
Jakobs
Rhenish Institute for Environmental Research at the University of Cologne, Aachener Strasse 209, 50931 Cologne, Germany. Electronic address: michael.memmesheimer@riu.uni-koeln.de.
Michael
M
Memmesheimer
West German Heart Centre of Essen, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: hagen.kaelsch@uk-essen.de.
Hagen
H
Kälsch
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: silke.andrich@ddz.uni-duesseldorf.de.
Silke
S
Andrich
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: michael.nonnemacher@uk-essen.de.
Michael
M
Nonnemacher
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: raimund.erbel@uk-essen.de.
Raimund
R
Erbel
Institute for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University Hospital Essen, The University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstraße 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. Electronic address: k-h.joeckel@uk-essen.de.
Karl-Heinz
KH
Jöckel
Environmental Epidemiology Group, Institute of Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, University Hospital of Düsseldorf, Umweltepidemiologie, POB 10 10 07, 40001 Düsseldorf, Germany. Electronic address: b.hoffmann@uni-duesseldorf.de.
Barbara
B
Hoffmann
D000368:Aged; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D062186:Arterial Pressure; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015994:Incidence; D007221:Industry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018986:Motor Vehicles; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D001335:Vehicle Emissions / Q000032:analysis*
D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D001335:Vehicle Emissions
Blood pressure; Hypertension; Industrial emissions; Particulate matter; Source-specific air pollution; Traffic emissions