Blood concentrations of volatile organic compounds and hypertension in the GuLF Study

While certain criteria air pollutants have been associated with elevated blood pressure and risk of hypertension, there is limited research on the relationship of hazardous air pollutants, including volatile organic compounds (VOC), to these outcomes. We investigated associations of blood concentrations of selected VOCs with hypertension prevalence and blood pressure among participants in the Gulf Long Term Follow-up (GuLF) Study, a large prospective cohort study of individuals who participated in cleanup of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We examined 582 participants who had blood concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m/p-xylene, o-xylene, styrene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, and furan measured in samples collected 2-3 years after the spill. Because blood concentrations and blood pressure were collected/measured years after the spill and these VOCs have biological half-lives of <1-2 days, these blood VOC measurements reflect at the time of blood collection and are not related to spill-related cleanup work. We used modified Poisson regressions and generalized linear models to explore the associations of blood VOC concentrations with hypertension prevalence and with blood pressure levels, including analyses stratified by tobacco-smoke exposure, BMI, and age to assess potential effect measure modification. Blood concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m/p-xylene, o-xylene, styrene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, and furan were not associated with increased hypertension prevalence or blood pressure. Rather, we observed evidence of possible inverse associations between blood concentrations of certain VOCs, particularly among tobacco smoke-exposed individuals.