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(Hypertension. 1995;25:53-60.)
© 1995 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

Increased Prevalence of Hypertension and Long-term Arsenic Exposure

Chien-Jen Chen; Yu-Mei Hsueh; Mei-Shwu Lai; Mei-Pyng Shyu; Shu-Yuan Chen; Meei-Maan Wu; Tsung-Li Kuo; Tong-Yuan Tai

From the Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University College of Public Health (C.-J.C., M.-P.S., S.-Y.C., M.-M.W., M.-S.L.); the Department of Public Health, Taipei Medical College (Y.-M.H.); the Departments of Legal Medicine (T.-L.K.) and Internal Medicine (T.-Y.T.), National Taiwan University College of Medicine; and the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica (C.-J.C.), Taipei, Taiwan.

Correspondence to Dr Chien-Jen Chen, Institute of Epidemiology, National Taiwan University College of Public Health, 1, Jen-Ai Road Section 1, Taipei 10018, Taiwan, ROC.

Abstract To examine the association between long-term exposure to inorganic arsenic and the prevalence of hypertension, we studied a total of 382 men and 516 women residing in villages where arseniasis was hyperendemic. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of 160 mm Hg or greater, a diastolic blood pressure of 95 mm Hg or greater, or a history of hypertension treated regularly with antihypertensive drugs. The long-term arsenic exposure was calculated from the history of artesian well water consumption obtained through standardized interviews based on a structured questionnaire and the measured arsenic concentration in well water. Residents in villages where long-term arseniasis was hyperendemic had a 1.5-fold increase in age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of hypertension compared with residents in nonendemic areas. Duration of artesian well water consumption, average arsenic concentration in drinking water, and cumulative arsenic exposure were all significantly associated with hypertension prevalence. The higher the cumulative arsenic exposure, the higher the prevalence of hypertension. This dose-response relation remained significant after adjustment for age, sex, diabetes mellitus, proteinuria, body mass index, and serum triglyceride level. The results suggest that long-term arsenic exposure may induce hypertension in humans.

Key Words: hypertension, essential • prevalence • arsenic

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