Does air quality matter? 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 particles and blood pressure registers
Text Complet
Compartir
Background: Hypertension is a global and national public health issue, with large human
and economic costs, both in developed and developing countries. Ambient pollution is
one of the leading risk factors on mortality and loss of quality-of-life burden. Recent
evidence has shown how these two factors could be related, and how a great part of the
cardiovascular disruptions could be explained by the interaction of pollutants with our
organism. Particulate matter is especially dangerous and, moreover, the smaller these
particles are, the more hazardous they become. Previous studies have linked the
exposure to PM2.5 with cardiovascular and blood pressure alterations.
Objective: The goal of this study is to measure the association between the exposure to
PM2.5 and an increased blood pressure at an individual level, before and after adjusting
for comorbidities. Additionally, the strength of this association by socioeconomical
status will be evaluated.
Study design: We present a prospective cohort study considering a continuous measure
of exposure to PM2.5 particles.
Participants: This study will require the participation of the Primary Healthcare Centres
users in the city of Barcelona (Spain) who meet the inclusion criteria and none of the
exclusion ones. The final n will be 462.
Methodology: For 8 months, 24-hour data of blood pressure registers and the same
period pollution exposure will be collected by an ABPM and a relatively new machine,
the UPAS monitor. 24-hour, the diurnal and the nocturnal average blood pressures
(systolic and diastolic) and other blood pressure variations will be considered the
outcomes. Total PM2.5 exposure during the 24 hours will be used as the exposure
variable. Other confounding factors such as age, sex, ethnicities comorbidities and
socioeconomical status will be included in the analyses