Heart Attacks Linked to Short Bursts of Air Pollution
High levels of air pollution can trigger heart attacks in at-risk people exposed for even a short time.
Harvard University researchers interviewed 772 Boston area patients about four days after their attacks and found that the onset of symptoms correlated with times of high daily air pollution.
The new study is the first to examine short-term effects on the heart, said author Murray Mittleman, director of cardiovascular epidemiology at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Previous studies have shown that fine particles, small enough to bypass the body’s defenses and get into the lungs and other tissue, cause inflammation and blood clotting. Researchers hypothesize that these symptoms may contribute to heart attacks by blocking flow of blood through the heart.
The results appeared in Circulation, a journal published by the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2001;103:2810.
The American Heart Association [circ.ahajournals.org/] publishes the full article online.
