TY - JOUR
T1 - Cumulative community-level lead exposure and pulse pressure
T2 - The normative aging study
AU - Perlstein, Todd
AU - Weuve, Jennifer
AU - Schwartz, Joel
AU - Sparrow, David
AU - Wright, Robert
AU - Litonjua, Augusto
AU - Nie, Huiling
AU - Hu, Howard
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - Background: Pulse pressure increases with age in industrialized societies as a manifestation of arterial stiffening. Lead accumulates in the vasculature and is associated with vascular oxidative stress, which can promote functional and structural vascular disease. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that cumulative community-level lead exposure, measured with K-X-ray fluorescence, is associated with pulse pressure in a cohort of adult men. METHODS AND Results: In a cross-sectional analysis of 593 men not treated with antihypertensive medication, tibia lead was positively associated with pulse pressure (p < 0.001). Adjusting for age, race, diabetes, family history of hypertension, education, waist circumference, alcohol intake, smoking history, height, heart rate, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio, increasing quintiles of tibia lead remained associated with increased pulse pressure (ptrend = 0.02). Men with tibia lead above the median (19.0 μg/g) had, on average, a 4.2-mmHg (95% confidence interval, 1.9-6.5) higher pulse pressure than men with tibia lead level below the median. In contrast, blood lead level was not associated with pulse pressure. Conclusion: These data indicate that lead exposure may contribute to the observed increase in pulse pressure that occurs with aging in industrialized societies. Lead accumulation may contribute to arterial aging, perhaps providing mechanistic insight into the observed association of low-level lead exposure with cardiovascular mortality.
AB - Background: Pulse pressure increases with age in industrialized societies as a manifestation of arterial stiffening. Lead accumulates in the vasculature and is associated with vascular oxidative stress, which can promote functional and structural vascular disease. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that cumulative community-level lead exposure, measured with K-X-ray fluorescence, is associated with pulse pressure in a cohort of adult men. METHODS AND Results: In a cross-sectional analysis of 593 men not treated with antihypertensive medication, tibia lead was positively associated with pulse pressure (p < 0.001). Adjusting for age, race, diabetes, family history of hypertension, education, waist circumference, alcohol intake, smoking history, height, heart rate, fasting glucose, and total cholesterol-to-HDL ratio, increasing quintiles of tibia lead remained associated with increased pulse pressure (ptrend = 0.02). Men with tibia lead above the median (19.0 μg/g) had, on average, a 4.2-mmHg (95% confidence interval, 1.9-6.5) higher pulse pressure than men with tibia lead level below the median. In contrast, blood lead level was not associated with pulse pressure. Conclusion: These data indicate that lead exposure may contribute to the observed increase in pulse pressure that occurs with aging in industrialized societies. Lead accumulation may contribute to arterial aging, perhaps providing mechanistic insight into the observed association of low-level lead exposure with cardiovascular mortality.
KW - Aging
KW - Epidemiology
KW - Human
KW - Lead exposure
KW - Pulse pressure
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=38749150662&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1289/ehp.10350
DO - 10.1289/ehp.10350
M3 - Article
C2 - 18087585
AN - SCOPUS:38749150662
SN - 0091-6765
VL - 115
SP - 1696
EP - 1700
JO - Environmental Health Perspectives
JF - Environmental Health Perspectives
IS - 12
ER -