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Bad air and lots of noise drive up blood pressure
It has long been known that environmental influences play a significant role in our health. A study has now shown that factors such as air pollution and road noise can help raise blood pressure.
Health risk due to air pollution
It has long been known that air pollution is associated with a high health risk. Among other things, it increases the risk of strokes, as a scientific study showed. Even noise makes you sick, it causes headaches, nervousness, inner restlessness and stress. Both factors - bad air and noise - can also have a negative impact on blood pressure.
Air pollution and noise damage our health. As a European study has shown, these environmental factors increase the risk of hypertension. (Image: Gina Sanders / fotolia.com) Noise promotes hypertension
According to a new pan-European study published in the European Heart Journal, long-term exposure of people to air pollution is linked to the more common occurrence of high blood pressure. The study, with over 41,000 subjects in five countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Spain) for up to nine years, shows that both air pollution and traffic noise are separately associated with the onset of hypertension.
"The connection between air pollution and hypertension persisted, even though noise, which is often associated with air pollution, was taken into account as a disruptive factor in the analysis," writes Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf in a statement.
Earlier investigations proved correlations
Previous studies have shown that the two factors influence blood pressure. For example, Chinese researchers recently reported that air pollution increases high blood pressure risk. And a study of the Mainz University Hospital showed years ago that night-time noise increases the blood pressure in the long term.
Part of a European project
The current study, which is part of the European project "European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects" (ESCAPE), began by collecting information about the subjects' blood pressure and blood pressure. "Only those who had no hypertension at the beginning of the observation were considered for the analysis. In total, 6,207 people (15 percent) developed hypertension during the observation period, "the statement says.
Between 2008 and 2011, air pollution was measured by a standardized method in the study regions in a large-scale measurement campaign and then assigned to the residential addresses of the participants. Particulates were measured in different size classes: the smallest particles were up to 2.5 microns (PM2.5) large, the larger ones up to ten microns (PM10). In addition, soot particles were measured (PM2.5 absorbance) and the traffic density around the residential address was recorded. The extent of road noise was taken from EU noise mapping.
Difference between cleanest and dirtiest quarter
It was found that per five micrograms / m3 PM2.5 the risk of developing hypertension increased by 22 percent. Five μg / m3 PM2.5 roughly equals the difference between the most polluted quarter of a city versus the cleanest quarter of a city.
Higher carbon black concentrations also increased the risk of disease. Participants with a nocturnal noise level of around 60 dB (A) had a six percent higher risk of developing hypertension than participants with a noise level of 50 dB (A) during the night.
Great burden for patients
"Our results show that long-term exposure to air pollution increases the risk of hypertension. This is important because virtually everyone is more or less exposed to air pollution for a lifetime, "said study leader Dr. Barbara Hoffmann, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the Institute for Occupational, Social and Environmental Medicine, Center for Health and Society, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf.
And further: "This leads in the long run to a high number of high blood pressure diseases, which is a great burden for the affected patients, but also for society."
Current laws are not enough
These correlations were clearly below the valid EU limit values even at fine dust concentrations. "As a consequence, the current legislation can not sufficiently protect the population from the adverse effects of air pollution," writes the university. And: "The findings of the study highlight the need to better regulate air quality levels for the protection of public health, particularly in the context of widespread air pollution and the importance of hypertension." (Ad)