• Posted August 12, 2025

High Blood Pressure? Try An Indoor Air Purifier

Folks fighting high blood pressure might receive some help from a household air purifier, a new study says.

Even in areas with relatively low air pollution levels, using a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifier at home might significantly lower a person’s blood pressure, researchers reported recently in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“High blood pressure remains one of the most important modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease,” lead author Douglas Brugge, chair of public health sciences at University of Connecticut Health, said in a news release.

“This research adds to growing evidence that simple interventions, like in-home air filtration, may help improve heart health for people at risk,” he added.

For the study, researchers randomly assigned 154 adults living near highways to use either a HEPA air purifier or a sham device in which the filter had been removed.

The participants switched devices after a month and an equal amount of time in between, to give all time with either real or fake air purifiers. Their blood pressure was taken at four times to see how it changed during the study.

After a month using real air purifiers, people experienced a significant 2.8-point drop in their systolic blood pressure, or the pressure in their blood vessels during a heartbeat.

By comparison, people experienced a slight 0.2-point increase in systolic blood pressure after using the fake purifier.

That adds up to an overall 3-point improvement in systolic pressure when using an air purifier, researchers said.

“Overwhelming evidence shows the harmful health effects of (particle pollution) exposure, even at levels below current U.S. standards,” Dr. Jonathan Newman, an associate professor of cardiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, wrote in an accompanying editorial. “As health care professionals, we must educate the public and support policies that protect clean air and improve the health of all Americans."

Dr. Harlan Krumholz, editor-in-chief of JACC, noted the study shows that even modest improvement in indoor air quality could help some with high blood pressure.

“While more research is needed, these results suggest that what we breathe at home may matter for our cardiovascular health,” he said in a news release.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on high blood pressure.

SOURCES: American College of Cardiology, news release, Aug. 6, 2025; JACC, Aug. 6, 2025

More information