Does air quality matter? 24-hour exposure to PM2.5 particles and blood pressure registers

Abstract

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