scholarly journals Solar Activity Is Associated With Diastolic and Systolic Blood Pressure in Elderly Adults

Author(s):  
Veronica A. Wang ◽  
Carolina L. Zilli Vieira ◽  
Eric Garshick ◽  
Joel D. Schwartz ◽  
Michael S. Garshick ◽  
...  

Background Since solar activity and related geomagnetic disturbances modulate autonomic nervous system activity, we hypothesized that these events would be associated with blood pressure (BP). Methods and Results We studied 675 elderly men from the Normative Aging Study (Boston, MA) with 1949 BP measurements between 2000 and 2017. Mixed‐effects regression models were used to investigate the association of average 1‐day (ie, day of BP measurement) to 28‐day interplanetary magnetic field intensity, sunspot number, and a dichotomized measure of global geomagnetic activity (K p index) in 4‐day increments with diastolic and systolic BP. We adjusted for meteorological conditions and other covariates associated with BP, and in additional models adjusted for ambient air pollutants (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 µm, black carbon, and particle number) and ambient particle radioactivity. There were positive associations between interplanetary magnetic field, sunspot number, and K p index and BP that were greatest with these exposures averaged over 16 through 28 days before BP measurement. An interquartile range increase of 16‐day interplanetary magnetic field and sunspot number and higher K p index were associated with a 2.5 (95% CI, 1.7‒3.2), 2.8 (95% CI, 2.1‒3.4), and 1.7 (95% CI, 0.8‒2.5) mm Hg increase, respectively, for diastolic BP as well as a 2.1 (95% CI, 0.7‒3.6), 2.7 (95% CI, 1.5‒4.0), and 0.4 (95% CI, −1.2 to 2.1) mm Hg increase, respectively, for systolic BP. Associations remained after adjustment for ambient air pollutants and ambient particle radioactivity. Conclusions Solar activity and solar‐driven geomagnetic disturbances were positively associated with BP, suggesting that these natural phenomena influence BP in elderly men.

2019 ◽  
Vol 492 (2) ◽  
pp. 1914-1918
Author(s):  
Yury A Nagovitsyn ◽  
Aleksandra A Osipova

ABSTRACT The IDV index of geomagnetic activity is used by many researchers as a proxy of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength B. Using the original multiscale regression (MSR) method based on wavelet transformation, we obtained a long series of B values starting from 1845. Then, based on the new 2.0 versions of the sunspot number and group sunspot number and using MSR method and this series as a reference, we reconstructed IMF strength B starting from 1610. Further extension of the reconstruction is associated with radiocarbon reconstructions of solar activity at a time-scale of up to several millennia. It is shown that in the last 3200 yr the IMF strength has been experiencing a downward trend of −(0.39 ± 0.17) · 10−3 nT· yr−1.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Toledo-Corral ◽  
T. L. Alderete ◽  
M. M. Herting ◽  
R. Habre ◽  
A. K. Peterson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis dysfunction has been associated with a variety of mental health and cardio-metabolic disorders. While causal models of HPA-axis dysregulation have been largely focused on either pre-existing health conditions or psychosocial stress factors, recent evidence suggests a possible role for central nervous system activation via air pollutants, such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM). Therefore, in an observational study of Latino youth, we investigated if monthly ambient NO2, O3, and PM with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 (PM2.5) exposure were associated with morning serum cortisol levels. Methods In this cross-sectional study, morning serum cortisol level was assessed after a supervised overnight fast in 203 overweight and obese Latino children and adolescents (female/male: 88/115; mean age: 11.1 ± 1.7 years; pre-pubertal/pubertal/post-pubertal: 85/101/17; BMI z-score: 2.1 ± 0.4). Cumulative concentrations of NO2, O3 and PM2.5 were spatially interpolated at the residential addresses based on measurements from community monitors up to 12 months prior to testing. Single and multi-pollutant linear effects models were used to test the cumulative monthly lag effects of NO2, O3, and PM2.5 on morning serum cortisol levels after adjusting for age, sex, seasonality, social position, pubertal status, and body fat percent by DEXA. Results Single and multi-pollutant models showed that higher O3 exposure (derived from maximum 8-h exposure windows) in the prior 1–7 months was associated with higher serum morning cortisol (p < 0.05) and longer term PM2.5 exposure (4–10 months) was associated with lower serum morning cortisol levels (p < 0.05). Stratification by pubertal status showed associations in pre-pubertal children compared to pubertal and post-pubertal children. Single, but not multi-pollutant, models showed that higher NO2 over the 4–10 month exposure period associated with lower morning serum cortisol (p < 0.05). Conclusions Chronic ambient NO2, O3 and PM2.5 differentially associate with HPA-axis dysfunction, a mechanism that may serve as an explanatory pathway in the relationship between ambient air pollution and metabolic health of youth living in polluted urban environments. Further research that uncovers how ambient air pollutants may differentially contribute to HPA-axis dysfunction are warranted.


2016 ◽  
Vol 124 (8) ◽  
pp. 1276-1282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis-Francois Tétreault ◽  
Marieve Doucet ◽  
Philippe Gamache ◽  
Michel Fournier ◽  
Allan Brand ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Zahra Namvar ◽  
Mostafa Hadei ◽  
Seyed Saeed Hashemi ◽  
Elahe Shahhosseini ◽  
Philip K. Hopke ◽  
...  

Introduction: Air pollution is one of the main causes for the significant increase of respiratory infections in Tehran. In the present study, we investigated the associations between short-term exposure to ambient air pollutants with the hospital admissions and deaths. Materials and methods: Health data from 39915 hospital admissions and 2459 registered deaths associated with these hospital admissions for respiratory infections were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education during 2014-2017. We used the distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) for the analyses. Results: There was a statistically positive association between PM2.5 and AURI in the age group of 16 years and younger at lags 6 (RR 1.31; 1.05-1.64) and 7 (RR 1.50; 1.09-2.06). AURI admissions was associated with O3 in the age group of 16 and 65 years at lag 7 with RR 1.13 (1.00-1.27). ALRI admissions was associated with CO in the age group of 65 years and older at lag 0 with RR 1.12 (1.02-1.23). PM10 was associated with ALRI daily hospital admissions at lag 0 for males. ALRI admissions were associated with NO2 for females at lag 0. There was a positive association between ALRI deaths and SO2 in the age group of 65 years and older at lags 4 and 5 with RR 1.04 (1.00-1.09) and 1.03 (1.00-1.07), respectively. Conclusion: Exposure to outdoor air pollutants including PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, O3, and CO was associated with hospital admissions for AURI and ALRI at different lags. Moreover, exposure to SO2 was associated with deaths for ALRI.


Author(s):  
Lisha Luo ◽  
Yunquan Zhang ◽  
Junfeng Jiang ◽  
Hanghang Luan ◽  
Chuanhua Yu ◽  
...  

In this study, we estimated the short-term effects of ambient air pollution on respiratory disease hospitalization in Taiyuan, China. Daily data of respiratory disease hospitalization, daily concentration of ambient air pollutants and meteorological factors from 1 October 2014 to 30 September 2017 in Taiyuan were included in our study. We conducted a time-series study design and applied a generalized additive model to evaluate the association between every 10-μg/m3 increment of air pollutants and percent increase of respiratory disease hospitalization. A total of 127,565 respiratory disease hospitalization cases were included in this study during the present period. In single-pollutant models, the effect values in multi-day lags were greater than those in single-day lags. PM2.5 at lag02 days, SO2 at lag03 days, PM10 and NO2 at lag05 days were observed to be strongly and significantly associated with respiratory disease hospitalization. No significant association was found between O3 and respiratory disease hospitalization. SO2 and NO2 were still significantly associated with hospitalization after adjusting for PM2.5 or PM10 into two-pollutant models. Females and younger population for respiratory disease were more vulnerable to air pollution than males and older groups. Therefore, some effective measures should be taken to strengthen the management of the ambient air pollutants, especially SO2 and NO2, and to enhance the protection of the high-risk population from air pollutants, thereby reducing the burden of respiratory disease caused by ambient air pollution.


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