Background: Few studies have examined the association between indoor air pollution from household solid fuel use for heating and cooking with hypertension considering the influence of outdoor particles with aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm. The aim of this study is to investigate the association of household solid fuel for heating and cooking with hypertension prevalence in a large diverse Chinese population.
Methods: 44,007 individuals aged 35-70 years with complete information on fuels used for cooking and heating and PM2.5 air pollution levels for 279 urban and rural communities of 12 centers were recruited in this study. Generalized linear mixed models using community as the random effect were performed to estimate the association with hypertension prevalence and blood pressure after considering ambient PM2.5 and a comprehensive set of potential confounding factors at the individual and household level.
Results: 47.6% and 61.2% of participants used household solid fuel for heating and cooking, respectively. Solid fuel for heating was associated with statistically insignificant increase in hypertension prevalence (adjusted OR=1.08, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.20) or elevated systolic blood pressure (0.62mmHg, 95% CI: -0.24, 1.48). No association was found between solid fuel for cooking and hypertension or blood pressure, and no additional risk was observed among participants who had the combined exposure to both solid fuels for heating and cooking compared with those using household solid heating fuel only.
Conclusion: No statistical significant association between the use of solid fuel for cooking or heating with BP or prevalence of hypertension was found in this large and diverse Chinese population.