Association between non-persistent pesticides and hypertension in adults: insights from NHANES

We investigated the relation between non-persistent pesticides and hypertension using data from 4260 adults in NHANES (2007-2014). Urinary concentrations of biomarkers for non-persistent pesticides were served as the level of pesticide exposure. The hypertension prevalence was 42.6%. The weighted logistic regression revealed a significant positive association between para-nitrophenol (PNP) and hypertension (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 1.03-1.20, <i>p</i> = 0.010), while the 3,5,6-trichloropyridinol (TCPY), 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) and 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) showed no significant association with hypertension. The bayesian kernel machine regression (BKMR) also supported the positive association of PNP with hypertension. The restricted cubic spline (RCS) confirmed the relation between PNP and hypertension was linear. The weighted quantile sum (WQS) demonstrated a positive association between combined exposure to the four pesticide biomarkers and hypertension (OR: 1.16, 95%CI: 1.02-1.32, <i>p</i> = 0.027), with PNP contributing the most (weighted 0.663). Our study emphasized the relationship between exposure to PNP and hypertension.