Objective  To conduct a systematic review and Meta-analysis for the association between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure and blood pressure.

Methods  The CNKI, WanFang, CBM, VIP, OVID, PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCO databases were systematically searched for collecting literature on the relatimship between PAHs exposure and blood pressure, from inception to July 25, 2025. After two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias in the included studies, a quantitative and qualitative summary was conducted.

Results  A total of 41 papers were included, involving 9 cohort studies and 32 cross-sectional studies. The results of Meta-analysis based on 3 cross-sectional studies showed that benzo[a]pyrene exposure was a risk factor for hypertension among coke oven workers [OR=1.44, 95%CI (1.15, 1.80)]. Consistently, 3 included cohort studies demonstrated PAHs exposure as a risk of hypertension. In addition, a total of 11 studies reported the positive association between PAHs exposure and systolic blood pressure, and 10 studies reported the a positive association between PAHs exposure and diastolic blood pressure, and the remaining studies reported the negative association or found no association between PAHs and blood pressure.

Conclusion  PAHs exposure was associated with blood pressure and increased the risk of hypertension.

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