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Life-course exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and hypertension in adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study

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Abstract

PM2.5-hypertension association were well documented in adults, while the effects of life-course exposure to PM2.5 on adulthood hypertension remained unclear. This study aimed to investigate the associations between life-course exposure to ambient PM2.5 and incident hypertension in adulthood in Asia. We included 4272 participants with 17,814 medical visits from two open cohorts in Taiwan and Hong Kong between 2000 and 2018. We used a satellite-based model to assess 2-year average PM2.5 exposure at a resolution of 1 km2. A linear mixed model was used to examine the association with blood pressure. A Cox regression model with time-dependent covariates was used to examine the overall association with the development of hypertension in adulthood. Life-course mixed models were used to examine the effects of PM2.5 exposure at different life stages on blood pressure and hypertension. For every 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5, the overall risk of adulthood hypertension increased by 40% (95% confidence interval [CI] 8–80%). The health effects of PM2.5 exposure at different life-stages on incident hypertension were generally independent of each other. In critical model, the risk of developing hypertension increased 23%, 27%, and 55% for each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM2.5 exposure during school age, adolescence, and adulthood, respectively. Similar associations were found between life-course PM2.5 exposure and blood pressure. Association between PM2.5 and adulthood hypertension can be traced back to childhood. Our study suggests that life-course control of air pollution exposure should be implemented to alleviate the huge burden of adulthood hypertension.

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Funding

This work was in part supported by Direct Grant for Research of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2020.023), Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2019A1515011697), and Health and Medical Research Fund (19202201). Cui Guo is in part supported by the RGC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme of Hong Kong.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jockey Club School of Public Health and Primary Care, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Cui Guo, Yacong Bo & Xiang Qian Lao

  2. Institute of Sociology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Ly-yun Chang

  3. Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Changqing Lin & Alexis K. H. Lau

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Alexis K. H. Lau

  5. Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Tony Tam

  6. Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China

    Xiang Qian Lao

Authors
  1. Cui Guo
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  2. Ly-yun Chang
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  3. Yacong Bo
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  7. Xiang Qian Lao
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Contributions

CG and XQL conceived of and designed the study. LC, AKHL, TT, and XQL acquired the data. CG analyzed data and drafted the manuscript. CG and XQL interpreted the results. All authors critically revised the manuscript. CG and XQL acquired the funding. LC, AKHL, TT, and XQL supervised this study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiang Qian Lao.

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Ethical approval

This study was approved by the Joint Chinese University of Hong Kong–New Territories East Cluster Clinical Research Ethics Committee (2018.388 and 2021.233).

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Each participant signed written informed consent prior to each medical examination.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Lotfi Aleya

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Guo, C., Chang, Ly., Bo, Y. et al. Life-course exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and hypertension in adulthood: a longitudinal cohort study. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 788–797 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22272-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-22272-w

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