Background: Ultrafine particles (UFP) may contribute to the cardiovascular effects of particulate air pollution, partly because of their relatively efficient alveolar deposition.
Objective: In this study, we assessed associations between blood pressure and short-term exposure to air pollution in a population of schoolchildren.
Methods: In 130 children (6–12 years of age), blood pressure was determined during two periods (spring and fall 2011). We used mixed models to study the association between blood pressure and ambient concentrations of particulate matter and ultrafine particles measured in the schools’ playground.
Results: Independent of sex, age, height, and weight of the child, parental education, neighborhood socioeconomic status, fish consumption, heart rate, school, day of the week, season, wind speed, relative humidity, and temperature on the morning of examination, an interquartile range (860 particles/cm3) increase in nano-sized UFP fraction (20–30 nm) was associated with a 6.35 mmHg (95% CI: 1.56, 11.14; p = 0.01) increase in systolic blood pressure. For the total UFP fraction, systolic blood pressure was 0.79 mmHg (95% CI: 0.07, 1.51; p = 0.03) higher, but no effects on systolic blood pressure were found for the nano-sized fractions with a diameter > 100 nm, nor PM2.5, PMcoarse, and PM10. Diastolic blood pressure was not associated with any of the studied particulate mass fractions.
Conclusion: Children attending school on days with higher UFP concentrations (diameter < 100 nm) had higher systolic blood pressure. The association was dependent on UFP size, and there was no association with the PM2.5 mass concentration.
1Centre for Environmental Sciences, Hasselt University, Diepenbeek, Belgium; 2Environmental Risk & Health unit, VITO (Flemish Institute of Technological Research), Mol, Belgium; 3Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; 4Environment and Health unit, Provincial Institute of Hygiene, Antwerp, Belgium; 5Transportation Research Institute, Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium; 6Department of Public Health, Occupational & Environmental Medicine, Leuven University, Leuven, Belgium
Recommended Citation:
Nicky Pieters,1 Gudrun Koppen,2 Martine Van Poppel,et al. Blood Pressure and Same-Day Exposure to Air Pollution at School: Associations with Nano-Sized to Coarse PM in Children[J]. Environmental Health Perspectives,2015-01-01,Volume 123(Issue 7):737