CORRELATION STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AIR POLLUTANT LEVELS AND BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY IN PATIENTS WITH ESSENTIAL HYPERTENSION

Objective: We aim to investigate the effects of the level of air pollutants on blood pressure variability (BPV) in patients with essential hypertension. Design and method: Overall, 1,658 patients diagnosed with essential hypertension hospitalised at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital between January 2017 and December 2022 were included. We collected BPV indicators from the patients and pollutant data from the same period in the patients’ places of residence, including particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5), particulate matter 10 (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone 8-h mean. By constructing a distributed lag model for the median regression of the distribution, we explored the lag effect and correlation between air pollution and BPV in patients with essential hypertension. Results: The PM2.5 concentration had lag effects on daytime systolic blood pressure standard deviation, daytime diastolic blood pressure standard deviation, daytime systolic blood pressure coefficient of variation, and daytime diastolic blood pressure coefficient of variation. The PM10 concentration had lag effects on nighttime diastolic blood pressure standard deviation and nighttime diastolic blood pressure coefficient of variation. Conclusions: The cumulative effects of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and CO levels had a lagged effect on short-term BPV in patients with essential hypertension, and differences existed in BPV among different populations due to particulate pollutants. Sex, age, and seasonal differences were observed in the lagged effects of air pollutants on BPV in patients with essential hypertension.