Association between Particulate Matter Pollution Concentration and Hospital Admissions for Hypertension in Ganzhou,...

Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and respirable particulate matter (PM₁₀) are two major air pollutants with toxic effects on the cardiovascular system. Hypertension, as a chronic noncommunicable cardiovascular disease, is also a risk factor for several diseases. We applied generalized linear models with a quasi-Poisson link to assess the effect of air pollution exposure on the number of daily admissions for patients with hypertension. In addition, we established a two-pollutant model to evaluate PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ hazard effect stability by adjusting the other gaseous pollutants. Results showed that during the study period, 24 h mean concentrations of ambient PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ at 38.17 and 59.84 μg/m³, respectively, and a total of 2,611 hypertension hospital admissions were recorded. Air pollution concentrations significantly affected the number of hospitalizations for hypertension approximately 2 months after exposure. For each 10 μg/m³ increase in PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ in single-pollutant models, the number of hospitalizations for hypertension increased by 7.92% (95% CI: 5.48% to 10.42%) and 4.46% (95% CI: 2.86% to 5.65%), respectively, at the lag day with the strongest effect. NO₂, O₃, CO, and SO₂ had different significant effects on the number of hospitalizations over the same time period, and PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ still showed robust significant effects after adjustment of gas pollutants through a two-pollutant model. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of the health effects of ambient particulate matter.