People who live in urban areas have higher blood pressure than those who live in rural areas , since they are generally less polluted and the air quality is higher , according to a study with more than 5,000 people carried out by the University of Duisburg- Essen (Germany) and whose results have been announced at the Annual Congress of the American Thoracic Society, which is held these days in New Orleans (United States).
Although it had already been shown in previous studies that air pollution can increase blood pressure, so far the consequences of its exposure in the medium and long term have not been evaluated. However, acknowledges Barbara Hoffman, one of the authors, “these results confirm that those who live in areas with higher air pollution also have higher pressure.”
Analysis by Hoffman and his colleagues showed thatboth systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased by 1.7 millimeters of mercury (mmHg)in those citizens who were exposed to more than 2.4 micrograms of fine particles per cubic meter, levels associated with aair polluted by traffic or industrial pollution.
“According to the results of this study, air pollution not only causes an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes, but can also influence other underlying processes that lead to chronic cardiovascular diseases,” acknowledges this expert, who sees it necessary to continue investigating to prevent this chronic exposure “as much as possible”.
Hoffman and his team also plan to study whether citizens of areas with higher levels of pollution have a faster progression of theatherosclerosisof the coronary arteries and carotid arteries.
