Maduka Omosivie, Tobin-West Charles
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, College of Health Sciences, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
BMJ Glob Health. 2017 Oct 31;2(4):e000413. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000413. eCollection 2017.
Researchers have linked gas flaring to climate change, the hastening of the epidemiological transition and an upsurge in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases. We sought to determine if a relationship exists between residing in a gas-flaring host community and hypertension.
We conducted an analytical cross-sectional household survey among residents of 600 households in three gas-flaring and three non-gas-flaring host communities in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. We took geo-coordinates, administered a modified WHO-STEPS questionnaire and built on Android mobile phones using Open-Data-Kit (ODK) software. We also took biological measurements and carried out descriptive and inferential statistical analysis using SPSS and STATA.
We interviewed a total of 912 adults: 437 (47.9%) from non-gas-flaring and 475 (52.1%) from gas-flaring host communities. There were differences in level of education (x2=42.99; p=0.00), occupation category (x2=25.42; p=0.00) and BMI category (x2=15.37; 0.003) among the two groups. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 23.7%: 20.7% among persons living in non-gas-flaring host communities compared with 25.3% among persons living in gas-flaring host communities (x2=2.89; p=0.89). Residence in a gas-flaring host community, (AdjOR=1.75; 95% CI=1.11 to 2.74) and mean age (AdjOR=1.05; 95% CI=1.03 to 1.07) were identified as the predictors of hypertension. There was a significant association between hypertension and age, 1.05 (1.04-1.06) while the probability of being hypertensive was higher among residents of gas-flaring host communities between 20 to 40 years and 60 to 80 years.
There is a need for the relevant agencies to scale up environmental and biological monitoring of air pollutants. The implication of a possible relationship between gas-flaring and hypertension brings to the fore the need for interventions to regulate gas-flaring activities.
研究人员已将天然气燃烧与气候变化、流行病学转变的加速以及非传染性疾病患病率的上升联系起来。我们试图确定居住在天然气燃烧的宿主社区与高血压之间是否存在关联。
我们在尼日利亚尼日尔三角洲地区的三个天然气燃烧宿主社区和三个非天然气燃烧宿主社区的600户居民中进行了一项分析性横断面家庭调查。我们获取了地理坐标，发放了一份经过修改的世卫组织-逐步调查问卷调查表，并使用开放数据工具包（ODK）软件在安卓手机上进行记录。我们还进行了生物测量，并使用SPSS和STATA进行描述性和推断性统计分析。
我们共采访了912名成年人：437名（47.9%）来自非天然气燃烧宿主社区，475名（52.1%）来自天然气燃烧宿主社区。两组在教育水平（x2=42.99；p=0.00）、职业类别（x2=25.42；p=0.00）和体重指数类别（x2=15.37；0.003）方面存在差异。高血压的总体患病率为23.7%：居住在非天然气燃烧宿主社区的人群中患病率为20.7%，而居住在天然气燃烧宿主社区的人群中患病率为25.3%（x2=2.89；p=0.89）。居住在天然气燃烧宿主社区（调整后比值比=1.75；95%置信区间=1.11至2.74）和平均年龄（调整后比值比=1.05；95%置信区间=1.03至1.07）被确定为高血压的预测因素。高血压与年龄之间存在显著关联，为1.05（1.04 - 1.06），而在20至40岁以及60至80岁的天然气燃烧宿主社区居民中患高血压的概率更高。
相关机构有必要加强对空气污染物的环境和生物监测。天然气燃烧与高血压之间可能存在的关联意味着需要采取干预措施来规范天然气燃烧活动。
