Long-term exposure to reduced specific-size ambient particulate matter and progression of arterial stiffness among Chinese adults.

To assess the associations of ambient specific-size PM with brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and the progression of arterial stiffness. Participants were included from the Kailuan study, the cross-sectional study involved 36,486 participants, while the longitudinal study enrolled 16,871 participants. PM exposures was assessed through satellite-based random forest approaches at a 1 km resolution. Initial observations indicated a link between baseline baPWV and heightened levels of PM ₁ , PM _2.5 , and PM ₁₀ exposure, and greater effects were observed for PM ₁ (β: 22.52, 95% CI: 18.14-26.89), followed by PM _2.5 (β: 9.76, 95% CI: 7.52-12.00), and PM ₁₀ (β: 8.88, 95% CI: 7.32-10.45). Furthermore, the growth rate of baPWV was higher in participants exposed to high levels of PM ₁ exposure (β: 2.77, 95% CI: 1.19-4.35), succeeded by PM _2.5 and PM ₁₀ . Throughout a median follow-up period of 4.04 years, arterial stiffness was diagnosed in 1709 subjects. Long-term exposure to PM was linked with an increased risk of incident arterial stiffness, estimated HR for fixed 10 µg/m ³ increments in annual average PM ₁ was 2.20 (95% CI: 2.01-2.42), PM _2.5 was 1.48 (95% CI: 1.41-1.55), and PM ₁₀ 1.32 (95% CI: 1.27-1.36). PM had a greater impact on men and older individuals (P for interaction <0.001). Long-term exposures to ambient PM ₁ , PM _2.5 , and PM ₁₀ were positively associated with baPWV and an increased risk of arterial stiffness. Higher estimated effects were observed for PM ₁ than PM _2.5 and PM ₁₀ .
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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