Long-term effects of fine particulate matter exposure on the progression of arterial stiffness

BACKGROUND: Prior studies have investigated the association of PM(2.5) exposure with arterial stiffness measured by ankle-brachial index (ABI) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), of which conclusions are inconsistent. Moreover, limited evidence is available on the contributory role of PM(2.5) exposure on the arterial stiffness index. METHODS: We used the population data from the Beijing Health Management Cohort and conducted a longitudinal analysis. The annual average concentration of PM(2.5) for 35 air pollutant monitoring sites in Beijing from 2014 to 2018 was used to estimate individual exposure by different interpolation methods. Multivariate logistic regression and linear regression were conducted to assess the association of annual average PM(2.5) concentration with the incidence of higher baPWV, the progression of ABI, and baPWV, respectively. RESULTS: The association between PM(2.5) exposure and incidence of higher baPWV was not significant (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 0.82–1.50, P = 0.497). There was − 0.16% (95% CI: − 0.43-0.11%) decrease in ABI annually and 1.04% (95% CI: 0.72–1.37%) increase in baPWV annually with each increment of 10 μg/m(3) average PM(2.5) concentration. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to PM(2.5) was associated with the progression of arterial stiffness in Beijing. This study suggests that improvement of air quality may help to prevent arterial stiffness. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12940-020-00688-6.