Associations between maternal exposure to incense burning and blood pressure during pregnancy

Abstract

Incense burning is a popular practice in Asian and Arabic countries. Previous studies show that incense burning was associated with increased risks of adverse outcomes among non-pregnant population. However, very few studies explored its health effects among pregnant women, who are more susceptible to environmental stressor. We aimed to examine the association between incense burning at home and hypertensive disorders as well as blood pressure levels during pregnancy, using data from 10,563 pregnant women recruited in Born in Guangzhou Cohort Study, China between January 2013 and December 2015. Information on frequency and duration of exposure to incense burning were collected at early and late pregnancy using questionnaire. Data on outcome variables, including hypertensive disorders diagnosis and blood pressure levels at the final antenatal visit before delivery, were extracted from medical records. We used Poisson regression model and general linear model to examine the associations between incense exposure and the outcomes. We found incense use at early pregnancy was not significantly associated with outcomes. Pregnant women who frequently smelled the incense burning at late pregnancy was associated with higher risk of hypertensive disorders (relative risk, 1.84; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.98) and higher levels of blood pressure (1.6mmHg increase of systolic blood pressure; 95% confidence interval, 0.4-2.8mmHg) before delivery, compared to those did not burn incense. These associations tended to more evident among women without active and passive smoking. We did not observe significant dose-response relationship between exposure duration and the risk of hypertensive disorders. We firstly reported exposure to incense burning was associated with the risk of hypertensive disorders and blood pressure levels during pregnancy. Given hypertensive disorders in pregnancy are well-established risk factors for a variety of adverse outcomes and the incense burning is a modifiable factor, our finding may have important public health significance.

Impacts of Chinese spring festival on household PM 2.5 pollution and blood pressure of rural residents

“…For the continuous variables (including PM 2.5 exposure, BMI, and age), PM 2.5 exposure was found significantly and positively correlated with SBP (p < 0.05) Figure 5A but was not significantly correlated with DBP Figure S2A), which is consistent with previous studies. 22,50 A previous study also found only SBP of pregnant women increased after exposure to incense burning, 51 Therefore, the partial effects of various influencing factors and their relative contributions to the total variance of blood pressures were explored based on the GLM coupled with dominance analysis Figure 6, Figure S3, Table S2, and Table S3. It was found that the age of the rural residents was positively and significantly associated with SBP and DBP (all p < 0.05) and the BMI was only positively and significantly associated with SBP (p < 0.05).…”

Investigation and Treatment of Air Pollution From Incense Burning in Vietnam

“…Due to their small size, incense smoke particles can penetrate deeply into the lungs and settle in the respiratory system. He et al [12] also reported the association between incense burning and the risk of hypertensive disorders and blood pressure levels during pregnancy. Zhou et al [13] claims that burning incenses is higher cytotoxicity and genotoxicity than burning cigarette.…”

Associations between household incense burning and delayed motor development among preterm infants modified by gestational age and maternal educational status

“…[15][16][17][18] However, the slow and incomplete combustion process produces multiple indoor air pollutants, [19][20][21][22][23] such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and other components of particulate matter (PM), which have been linked with deleterious health outcomes. 15,17,[19][20][21]23 Moreover, incense burning exposure during late pregnancy was found to be associated with increased risk of maternal hypertensive disorder, 24 along with the possible adverse health effects of asthma and respiratory tract symptoms, 18 decreased head circumference and body weight, 16 and delayed gross motor milestone development among term singletons. 25 These findings were in line with previous findings of particulate matters and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon in air pollution exposure and adverse birth outcomes like preterm birth and inferior neurodevelopmental status among infants and children.…”