Ozone Exposure May Make the Heart Work Harder
This study is the first chamber study to directly measure the effect of ozone on the function of the human heart.
Investigators studied a small group of healthy adult males and those with high blood pressure. Overall, researchers did not find evidence of major short-term cardiovascular effects from ozone exposure. However, they reported that their results “suggest that ozone exposure can increase myocardial work and impair pulmonary gas exchange to a degree that might be clinically important in persons with significant preexisting cardiovascular impairment, with or without concomitant lung disease.”
Gong, H. Jr., Wong, R., Sarma, R.J., Linn, W.S., Sullivan, E.D., Shamoo, D.A., Anderson, K.R., and Prasad, S.B. Cardiovascular Effects of Ozone Exposure in Human Volunteers. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, Vol. 158, pp. 538-546, 1998. The American Thoracic Society [www.ajrccm.atsjournals.org/] publishes the full article online.
