Ambient air pollution is associated with impaired vascular health, oxidative stress and systemic inflammation in Children. However, a recent study has demonstrated that increased PM_2.5 (aerosols with aerodynamic diameter not more than 2.5 um) and black carbon (BC) exposures were not associated with higher blood pressure (BP) among children in households cooking with biomass.

Those findings will be published on Epidemiology, a famous journal for epidemiologic research. The associated project, Air Pollution and Its Health Outcomes in Rural Western-China, is cooperated by University of Minnesota (lead by Dr. Jill BAUMGARTNER) and GUCAS (lead by Dr. ZHANG YuanXun), as well as some other scientists from the United States and the United Kingdom. Early in 2006, Dr. BAUMGARTNER and Dr. ZHANG have started their exploration in rural Yunnan. They recruited school-aged children from 180 rural households cooking with biomass in Yunnan, China. The associations between personal PM_2.5 and BC exposures and BP were investigated using one- and two- pollutant multivariate regression models. Interestingly, their new findings do not support their previous study of older women in this setting, showing a positive relationship between PM exposure and BP. How does household air pollution affect human body? Dr. BAUMGARTNER and Dr. ZHANG will continue their collaborations in this field over a span of years, and expected to find more implications.

This international collaboration was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Philosophical Society and “100-Talents Projects” of CAS.

Measurements of Blood Pressure and Air Pollution Exposures