
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that exposure to high levels of air pollution during childhood increases the likelihood of high blood pressure in children and adolescents, and their risk for high blood pressure as adults.
Air pollution is one of those things that as individuals, there's not much we can do about it other than invest in air filters for our homes (which aren't accessible to all people.)
Air pollution is primarily due to industrial and commercial activity; large multinational corporations that pollute with impunity.
While not the fault of the individual, this air pollution has direct consequences on our health.
This systematic review & meta-analysis compiled information from 14 studies that explored the association between air pollution and blood pressure in children and included data points from over 350,000 kids.
According to the paper "High blood pressure (BP) or hypertension has become 1 of the 10 largest contributors to global disease burden...childhood and adolescence are periods of rapid growth and in this period organ systems are particularly susceptible to injury, leading to lifelong consequences. In recent years, a growing body of evidence indicates that elevated BP in childhood and adolescence is a risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular disease in adults."
There are some interesting limitations to this analysis: many of the studies only looked at single pollutants, and not the combined effects of multiple pollutants (which is the reality of our exposures), some studies had too small sample sizes, etc.
BUT, meta-analyses like this are so important because they can serve to motivate governments who can move towards better regulating industrial emissions that contribute greatly to poor air pollution!
As is often the case, low-income, and Black and Brown communities are often disproportionately exposed to these types of environmental pollutants because of red-lining practices and industry seating themselves in these communities.
Problems like this are why I say that environmental toxins aren't a problem we can shop our way out of!