Air Pollution Seems to Cause Heart Attacks

The link between air pollution and impaired human health is now becoming more solid, according to a report issued by the American Heart Association on 10 May 2010.

Emissions produced as a result of cars being driven, power being produced and other industrial processes seems to cause both heart attacks and strokes, it said, urging people not to inhale smog and citing fine particulate matter from industrial fossil fuel incineration as a particular health offender.

“Particulate matter appears to directly increase risk by triggering events in susceptible individuals within hours to days of an increased level of exposure, even among those who otherwise may have been healthy for years”, the University of Michigan’s Doctor Robert Brook stated in the AHA’s new report.

Air Pollution: Human Health

Doctor Brook and his team assessed the impact of air pollution on human health for six years. They discovered that polluted air might well lead to clogged arteries, and also that there just might be a link between it and early death, too.

“It's possible that certain very small particles, or chemicals that travel with them, may reach the circulation and cause direct harm”, Brook explained.

“These responses can increase blood clotting and thrombosis, impair vascular function and blood flow, elevate blood pressure, and disrupt proper cardiac electrical activity which may ultimately provoke heart attacks, strokes, or even death.”

Air Pollution Exposure

As a consequence of its report, the AHA suggests that older members of society – along with those with pre-existing heart-related medical conditions – monitor air pollution levels by keeping a look-out for when index warning data is issued. According to Brook, it is possible to mitigate air pollution exposure by staying inside where possible, and limiting the time spent queuing in traffic.

In March 2010, Enviro News reported on how Hong Kong’s air pollution had reached a record high. Earlier on this year, we covered the US EPA’s nitrogen dioxide air pollution standard – a new measure intended to try and press down on one source of air pollution in the United States.

See also:

Companies supplying Air Pollution Control