Higher urinary heavy metal, phthalate and arsenic concentrations accounted for 3-19% of the population attributable risk for high blood pressure: US NHANES, 2009-2012

The link between environmental chemicals and human health has emerged, but has not been completely examined in terms of its risk factors. Therefore, we aimed to study the relationships of different sets of urinary environmental chemical concentrations and high blood pressure (BP) in a national, population-based study. Data were retrieved from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys, 2009-2012, including demographics, BP readings and urinary environmental chemical concentrations. Analyses included chi(2)-test, t-test, survey-weighted logistic regression models and population attributable risk estimation. Urinary cesium (odds ratio (OR) 1.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.06-2.18, P = 0.026), molybdenum (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.04-2.02, P = 0.029), lead (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.12-1.98, P = 0.009), platinum (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.14-2.21, P = 0.002), antimony (OR 1.44, 95% CI 1.12-1.86, P = 0.008) and tungsten (OR 1.48, 95% CI 1.22-1.79, P