Association between air pollutants and arterial stiffness in the general population: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess whether there is an association between air pollutants and arterial stiffness in the general population. Study design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods The PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Scopus data...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Rodríguez Sánchez, María José, Saz Lara, Alicia, Cavero Redondo, Iván, Díaz Valentín, María José, Simón, María José, Fuentes Chacón, Rosa María
Format: article
Publication Date:2025
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha
Repository:RUIdeRA. Repositorio Institucional de la UCLM
OAI Identifier:oai:ruidera.uclm.es:10578/47216
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2025.106018
https://hdl.handle.net/10578/47216
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Arterial stiffness
Pulse wave velocity
Air pollutants
General population
Description
Summary:Objectives The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess whether there is an association between air pollutants and arterial stiffness in the general population. Study design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods The PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Scopus databases were searched from inception to December 15, 2024. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD4202424598608). The DerSimonian and Laird method was used to calculate pooled risk ratio (RR) estimates and their 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the associations between air pollutants (CO, NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5 and SO2) and arterial stiffness in the general population. Results A total of 13 observational studies involving 257,784 adults were included. The pooled RR for the association with arterial stiffness was 1.13 (95 % CIs: 1.01, 1.26) for O3, 1.23 (95 % CIs: 1.03, 1.48) for PM10, 1.23 (95 % CIs: 1.04, 1.45) for PM2.5, and 1.25 (95 % CIs: 1.06, 1.49) for SO2. No significant results were obtained for CO or NO2. Conclusions Our findings showed that exposure to certain air pollutants, such as O3, PM10, PM2.5 and SO2, was associated with increased arterial stiffness in the general population, although future research is needed to explore this association in more detail.