Hearts and air pollution: Five deadly air pollutants on five continents
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Delhi skyline. |
Around the world, breathing a variety of air pollutants – in some cases for a single day – increases the chance that people will suffer heart attacks, according to a new analysis published Tuesday.
For the first time, scientists analyzed previous studies from five continents to verify and quantify the links between air pollution and heart health. They found that short-term exposure – less than seven days – to all major air pollutants except ozone was associated with an increase in heart attacks.
The team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. that the magnitude of the risk “is relatively small” compared to other factors, such as smoking, high blood pressure and diabetes. But they stressed that so many people worldwide are breathing fine particulates and other pollutants that the numbers of people at risk are substantial.
“Thus an improvement in air quality could have a significant effect on public health,” wrote the authors, led by Dr. Hazrije Mustafic of the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center at University Paris Descartes.
Published on Valentine’s Day, the new study shows that the human heart is perhaps the most vulnerable part of the body when it comes to air pollution.
Dr. Jesus Araujo, an assistant professor of medicine and director of environmental cardiology at UCLA, said there is now “more than enough evidence” from human, animal and cellular studies that air pollution kills.
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“We don’t have to be exposed for weeks or months or years,” Araujo said.
Air in most urban areas is made up of an array of contaminants, some gases, some microscopic particles, all containing a variety of chemical ingredients. In recent years, most of the attention has focused on fine particulates – microscopic pieces of soot from diesel engines and other sources. Studies conducted in numerous cities have shown that whenever fine particles increase, deaths and hospitalizations from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases increase, too.
In the new analysis, the researchers examined more than 100 studies from around the world and included 34 that met certain standards, then combined them to calculate the risk of heart attacks associated with fine particles, coarse particles, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. Most are pollutants related to the combustion of fossil fuels, emitted by vehicles or industry.
“One strength of our study is the comprehensive nature of our search that spanned multiple databases and was not restricted to particular publication language or a single pollutant,” wrote the authors, who are from several institutions in France as well as the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
Araujo said it is “quite significant” that the authors combined the results of several dozen studies and found that heart attacks increased with all of the air pollutants except ozone.
“What this study is showing us is that the gaseous pollutants are important, too. It shows that not only particulate pollution is associated with deaths but also the other major gaseous pollutants,” said Araujo, who did not participate in the new study.
Jean Ospital, health officer of the agency responsible for cleaning up the Los Angeles basin's air, said Tuesday that although the link between air pollution and heart attacks has been documented by individual studies for years, the new analysis is global and gives it “more statistical power and a larger sample size.”
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Los Angeles skyline circa 1965. |
In most U.S. cities, levels of all six of the pollutants studied have declined over the past few decades as cars, trucks, industries and consumer products have been forced to get cleaner. But many cities still have a long way to go. More than 30 metropolitan areas exceed the federal government’s health standard for fine particles, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nine areas violate the sulfur dioxide standard, 43 violate the carbon monoxide standard and 45 exceed the coarse particles standard.
Areas with excessive levels of one or more of the five pollutants include the Los Angeles basin, California's San Joaquin Valley, the Salt Lake City area, Phoenix, New York City and Philadelphia.
The analysis included several studies from each populated continent, except Africa, where pollution is largely unstudied.
Araujo said the risk is not just among people who are sick with pre-existing heart conditions. Some people are more at risk than others, including those who are obese or have hypertension, “but that is not to say that somebody who doesn’t have these conditions is at no risk of having a cardiovascular event” brought on by air pollution, he said.
Some people are more at risk than others, including those who are obese or have hypertension. One way to minimize exposure is to avoid exercising in congested areas near busy roads and freeways.He suggested that people avoid exercising in highly congested areas near busy roads and freeways, particularly during rush hours.
“A very small percentage of patients are aware of this problem,” he said. “It’s a relatively low increase for heart attacks but the population at stake is larger than it is for the other risk factors.” For example, all 17 million residents of the Los Angeles basin are exposed to air pollution while only a small fraction of them are smokers, obese or have diabetes.
Scientists are uncertain how air pollution triggers heart attacks. One major theory is it causes inflammation. Another is that it disrupts heart rate variability, which is how the heart responds to stress. Still another is that it increases the viscosity of blood, leading to more clots or hardening of the arteries.
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View of Shanghai looking down from the world's tallest observation platform. |
The authors do not know why no association was found between heart attacks and ozone, which was somewhat surprising. The main ingredient of smog, it is formed when the sun reacts with hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from vehicles, industries and consumer products.
One reason may be that heart attacks decline on hot summer days, when ozone is the worst, so it may have been difficult to find a link.
“Either there is no true association or the association is more difficult to reveal,” Araujo said.
Some previous studies have found a link between ozone and heart attacks, while others have not. It is more clear that when ozone levels rise, deaths from asthma and other respiratory problems seem to increase.
Hearts and air pollution: Five deadly air pollutants on five continents, by Environmental Health News, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.