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Association between long-term exposure to Sulfur dioxide pollution and hypertension incidence in northern China: a 12-year cohort study

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Abstract

Several studies have researched the short-term effect of sulfur dioxide (SO2) exposure on hypertension. However, no evidence has provided the relationship between long-term high pollution exposure of SO2 and morbidity of hypertension in cohort studies in China. This retrospective cohort study aimed to evaluate this association. We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to examine the hazard ratios (HR) for hypertension risks from 1998 to 2009 associated with accumulative exposure of air SO2 among adults in northern China. Annual average concentrations of sulfur dioxide (SO2) were obtained from 15 local environmental monitoring centers. Hypertension was identified according to self-reported diagnostic time and treatment for hypertension with anti-hypertensive medication. Among 37,386 participants, 2619 new cases of hypertension were identified during 426,334 person-years. In the fully adjusted model, HR and 95% confidence interval (CI) of hypertension incidence for each 10 μg/m3 increase in SO2 were 1.176 (1.163 and 1.189). Results from stratified analyses suggested that effects of SO2 on hypertension morbidity were more pronounced in participants < 60 years old, tea drinkers, and those with high education, high poultry consumption, and active (occasional and frequent) exercise. We found that long-term exposure to high levels of SO2 increased the risk of incidence of hypertension in China.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0211600 and 2017YFC0211605), the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0211704), and the Special Environmental Research Fund for Public Welfare from Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (No. 200709048).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Tianjin Medical University, No. 22 Meteorological Station Road, Heping District, Tianjin, 300070, China

    Mengfan Yan, Chaokang Li, Liwen Zhang, Xi Chen, Xueli Yang, Anqi Shan, Xuejun Li, Hui Wu, Zhao Ma, Yu Zhang, Pengyi Guo & Nai-jun Tang

  2. Tianjin Key Laboratory of Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, 300070, China

    Mengfan Yan, Chaokang Li, Liwen Zhang, Xi Chen, Xueli Yang, Anqi Shan, Xuejun Li, Hui Wu, Zhao Ma, Yu Zhang, Pengyi Guo & Nai-jun Tang

  3. Center for International Collaborative Research on Environment, Nutrition and Public Health, Tianjin, 300070, China

    Mengfan Yan, Chaokang Li, Liwen Zhang, Xi Chen, Xueli Yang, Anqi Shan, Xuejun Li, Hui Wu, Zhao Ma, Yu Zhang, Pengyi Guo & Nai-jun Tang

  4. Department of Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Guanghui Dong

  5. School of Medicine and Life Sciences, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, 250062, China

    Yamin Liu

  6. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, China Medical University, No. 77 Puhe Road, Shenbei New District, Shenyang, 110122, China

    Jie Chen

  7. School of Public Health, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, 030001, China

    Tong Wang

  8. Taiyuan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Taiyuan, 030001, China

    Baoxin Zhao

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  1. Mengfan Yan
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  2. Chaokang Li
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  17. Nai-jun Tang
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Correspondence to Nai-jun Tang.

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The use of data in the study was approved by the ethical committee of the coordinating center of Tianjin Medical University. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Yan, M., Li, C., Zhang, L. et al. Association between long-term exposure to Sulfur dioxide pollution and hypertension incidence in northern China: a 12-year cohort study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 21826–21835 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08572-z

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