Objective:
The effect of long-term exposure to air pollutants during adolescence on blood pressure in young adulthood is uncertain. We aimed to assess the association of air pollutants exposure during adolescence with blood pressure in young adulthood based on a nationwide sample of Chinese college students.
Design and method:
This cross-sectional study of incoming students was conducted in five geographically disperse universities in China during September and October 2018. Mean concentrations of particulate matter (PM) with diameters < = 2.5 um (PM2.5), < = 10 um (PM10), and nitrogen dioxides (NO2) at participants’ residential addresses during 2013–2018 were collected from the Chinese Air Quality Reanalysis dataset. A generalized linear mixed model was used to estimate the connection between air pollutants exposure and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and pulse pressure (PP).
Results:
A total of 16,042 participants (18.2 ± 0.7 years of age, 54.0% male) were included in the final analysis. After adjusting for potential confounding factors including age, sex, body mass index, drinking, smoking, physical activity, humidity, temperature, and so on, a 10 ug/m3 increase in PM10 and NO2 was significantly associated with 0.86 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.51, 1.21] in SBP, 0.83[95% CI: 0.52, 1.13] in PP, respectively. Similarly, 1.69 [95% CI: 0.92, 2.46] in SBP and 1.76 [95% CI: 1.09, 2.43] in PP were found for each 10 ug/m3 increase in PM10. However, there was no correlation between PM2.5 and SBP, DBP, and PP (P > 0.05).
Conclusions:
Our study suggests that exposure to air pollutants during adolescence may contribute to a significant correlation with elevated blood pressure in young adulthood. The findings of this study emphasize the impacts of air pollutants exposure on potential health and the need of minimizing pollution exposures in the environment.
