Drinking water salinity and risk of hypertension: A systematic review and meta-analysis

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Accepted Manuscript (AM)
Author(s)
Talukder, Mohammad Radwanur Rahman
Rutherford, Shannon
Huang, Cunrui
Phung, Dung
Islam, Mohammad Zahirul
Chu, Cordia
Year published
2017
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We summarized epidemiological studies assessing sodium in drinking water and changes in blood pressure or hypertension published in English from 1960 to 2015 from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We extracted data on blood pressure level or prevalence of hypertension and calculated pooled estimates using an inverse variance weighted random-effects model. The pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) in 7 studies (12 data sets) comparing the low and high water sodium exposure groups for systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 0.08 (95% CI, −0.17 to 0.34) and for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 0.23 (95% CI, 0.09–0.36). Of the ...
View more >We summarized epidemiological studies assessing sodium in drinking water and changes in blood pressure or hypertension published in English from 1960 to 2015 from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We extracted data on blood pressure level or prevalence of hypertension and calculated pooled estimates using an inverse variance weighted random-effects model. The pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) in 7 studies (12 data sets) comparing the low and high water sodium exposure groups for systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 0.08 (95% CI, −0.17 to 0.34) and for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 0.23 (95% CI, 0.09–0.36). Of the 3 studies that assessed the association between high water sodium and odds of hypertension, 2 recent studies showed consistent findings of higher risk of hypertension. Our systematic review suggests an association between water sodium and human blood pressure (more consistently for DBP) but remain inconclusive because of the small number of studies (largely in young populations) and the cross-sectional design and methodological drawbacks. In the context of climate-change-related sea level rise and increasing saltwater intrusion into drinking water sources, further research is urgently warranted to investigate and guide intervention in this increasingly widespread problem.
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View more >We summarized epidemiological studies assessing sodium in drinking water and changes in blood pressure or hypertension published in English from 1960 to 2015 from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. We extracted data on blood pressure level or prevalence of hypertension and calculated pooled estimates using an inverse variance weighted random-effects model. The pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) in 7 studies (12 data sets) comparing the low and high water sodium exposure groups for systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 0.08 (95% CI, −0.17 to 0.34) and for diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 0.23 (95% CI, 0.09–0.36). Of the 3 studies that assessed the association between high water sodium and odds of hypertension, 2 recent studies showed consistent findings of higher risk of hypertension. Our systematic review suggests an association between water sodium and human blood pressure (more consistently for DBP) but remain inconclusive because of the small number of studies (largely in young populations) and the cross-sectional design and methodological drawbacks. In the context of climate-change-related sea level rise and increasing saltwater intrusion into drinking water sources, further research is urgently warranted to investigate and guide intervention in this increasingly widespread problem.
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Journal Title
Archives of Environmental and Occupational Health
Volume
72
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2017 Routledge, Taylor & Francis (Routledge). This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health on 11 Apr 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/19338244.2016.1175413.
Subject
Other environmental sciences not elsewhere classified
Health services and systems
Public health