Impact of long-term exposure to local PM₁₀ on children’s blood pressure: a Chinese national cross-sectional study

The evidence of the effect of long-term exposure to particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 μm (PM₁₀) on children’s blood pressure is insufficient. We collected the data of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) for 71,763 children aged 7 to 18 from 30 cities from 2010 Chinese National Survey on Students’ Construction and Health, and the data of local annual average concentrations of PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, annual average of relative humidity, and ambient temperature from China Meteorological Administration and Ministry of Environment Protection of China. We used the generalized additive model (GAM) to estimate the associations between PM₁₀ exposure and children’s blood pressure. We found that there was a distinct geographic variation in the annual average concentrations of PM₁₀, ranging from 40 μg/m³ in Haikou to 155 μg/m³ in Lanzhou. After adjusting for individual characteristics, social economic conditions, ambient temperature, relative humidity, NO₂, and SO₂, we found that the increase of PM₁₀ was associated with increase of SBP and DBP in Chinese children. A 100-μg/m³ increase of PM₁₀ was associated with 0.88 mmHg (95% CI 0.71, 1.05) higher SBP and 0.91 mmHg (95% CI 0.77, 1.06) higher DBP (p < 0.001). Consistent associations of SBP or DBP with PM₁₀ were found in both girls and boys. We also found a larger estimated effect of PM₁₀ on SBP and DBP in overweight children than that in normal ones. Public health policy for improving the air quality could be helpful to protect children’s cardiovascular health.