Evidence map›Paper›PMID 22138666›Full record

SynthesisEnvironmental health perspectives2012

Arsenic exposure and hypertension: a systematic review.

Lalita N Abhyankar, Miranda R Jones, Eliseo Guallar, Ana Navas-Acien

Open access · diamondAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Environmental health perspectives, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 119 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
119citing papers in PubMed, 12 pooled it
11.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

119 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 277 citations in OpenAlex.

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  8. Factors Affecting Arsenic Methylation in Arsenic-Exposed Humans: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2016
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  13. Baseline comorbidities in a skin cancer prevention trial in Bangladesh.European journal of clinical investigation · 2013
    Trial
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  20. Chronic arsenic exposure and cardiometabolic biomarkers in adolescents in the MINIMat longitudinal study.Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology : organ of the Society for Minerals and Trace Elements (GMS) · 2025
    Article

59 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Lalita N AbhyankarDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
Miranda R Jones
Eliseo Guallar
Ana Navas-Acien
Johns Hopkins University · US

Funding

Arsenic Exposure, Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes in Native AmericansR01HL090863 · NHLBI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI NAVAS-ACIEN, ANA · 2008 to 2011
$3.1M
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL090863NHLBI NIH HHS R01HL090863
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEnvironmental exposure to arsenic has been linked to hypertension in persons living in arsenic-endemic areas.

objectiveWe summarized published epidemiologic studies concerning arsenic exposure and hypertension or blood pressure (BP) measurements to evaluate the potential relationship. DATA SOURCES AND EXTRACTION: We searched PubMed, Embase, and TOXLINE and applied predetermined exclusion criteria. We identified 11 cross-sectional studies from which we abstracted or derived measures of association and calculated pooled odds ratios (ORs) using inverse-variance weighted random-effects models. DATA SYNTHESIS: The pooled OR for hypertension comparing the highest and lowest arsenic exposure categories was 1.27 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09, 1.47; p-value for heterogeneity = 0.001; I(2) = 70.2%]. In populations with moderate to high arsenic concentrations in drinking water, the pooled OR was 1.15 (95% CI: 0.96, 1.37; p-value for heterogeneity = 0.002; I(2) = 76.6%) and 2.57 (95% CI: 1.56, 4.24; p-value for heterogeneity = 0.13; I(2) = 46.6%) before and after excluding an influential study, respectively. The corresponding pooled OR in populations with low arsenic concentrations in drinking water was 1.56 (95% CI: 1.21, 2.01; p-value for heterogeneity = 0.27; I(2) = 24.6%). A dose-response assessment including six studies with available data showed an increasing trend in the odds of hypertension with increasing arsenic exposure. Few studies have evaluated changes in systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP, respectively) measurements by arsenic exposure levels, and those studies reported inconclusive findings.

conclusionIn this systematic review we identified an association between arsenic and the prevalence of hypertension. Interpreting a causal effect of environmental arsenic on hypertension is limited by the small number of studies, the presence of influential studies, and the absence of prospective evidence. Additional evidence is needed to evaluate the dose-response relationship between environmental arsenic exposure and hypertension.

Indexed as

Environmental ExposureArsenicBlood PressureDose-Response Relationship, DrugDrinking WaterHumansHypertensionPrevalenceArsenicDrinking Water

Identifiers

PMID22138666
PMCPMC3339454
OpenAlexW1984271811

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC0
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.