Long-term exposure to air pollution is linked to a greater incidence of high blood pressure, according to the largest study to investigate the effects of both air pollution and traffic noise by following over 41,000 people in five different countries for five to nine years. Traffic noise is associated with an increase in cases of hypertension as well. This is an important finding because there are differing ways of reducing air pollution and noise. Both of the data was collected separately and then joined later as one. Nobody who started the experiment had hypertension when they joined the study, but during the follow-up period 6,207 people (15%) reported that they developed hypertension or started to take blood pressure-lowering medications. Professor Barbara Hoffmann, Professor of Environmental Epidemiology at the Centre for Health and Society at Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf, Germany, who led the analysis, said: "Our findings show that long-term exposure to particulate air pollution is associated with a higher incidence of self-reported hypertension and with intake of anti-hypertensive medication.I think this is really something to think about because there is traffic noise and air pollution everywhere. People could have high blood pressure and not even know and that could lead to serious health risks.
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