Cent Eur J Public Health 2018, 26(4):310-315 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a5104

Does short-term air pollution exposure have effects on blood pressure and heart rate in healthy women in the city of Niš, Serbia?

Aleksandra Stanković^1,2, Dragan Bogdanović^3,4, Maja Nikolić^1,2, Marija Anđelković Apostolović^4,5

¹ Department of Hygiene, Medical Ecology, Medical Faculty, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

² Centre for Hygiene and Human Ecology, Public Health Institute Niš, Niš, Serbia

³ Department for Biomedical Science, State University of Novi Pazar, Novi Pazar, Serbia

⁴ Centre for Informatics and Biostatistics in Health Care, Public Health Institute Niš, Niš, Serbia

⁵ Department for Informatics and Biostatistics, Medical Faculty, University of Niš, Niš, Serbia

Objective: Epidemiological research has shown that air pollution is associated with cardiovascular events, but little is known about short-term effects on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) in Serbian population. The present study assessed the short-term association between black smoke (BS) and sulphur dioxide (SO₂) levels in urban air and the daily values of blood pressure and heart rate in 98 healthy nonsmoking female volunteers.

Methods: Generalized regression model was fitted controlling for temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, season, and the day of the week.

Results: There was no association between short-term air pollution exposure and BP and HR, the exposure showed a tendency toward a decrease of diastolic BP and HR, but with no statistical significance.

Conclusion: The present findings did not support the conclusion that current levels of ambient BS and SO₂ may have an effect on blood pressure and heart rate in women.

Keywords: short-term exposure, black smoke, sulphur dioxide, blood pressure, heart rate

Received: March 14, 2017; Revised: April 15, 2018; Accepted: April 15, 2018; Published: December 31, 2018  Show citation