Monday, April 1, 2013

Exposure to Air Pollution after a Heart Attack

Serious air pollution
Serious air pollution (Photo credit: Andrew.T@NN)
Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with survival following acute coronary syndrome(6 page pdf, Cathryn Tonne and Paul Wilkinson, European Heart Journal, Jan. 19, 2013) 

Also discussed here: Exposure to Air Pollution Is Associated With Increased Deaths After Heart Attacks(Science Daily, Feb. 20, 2013) 



Today we review an extensive investigation of the impact of exposure to varying levels of PM 2.5 on the survival rate of patients who have had a heart attack. Results indicate that exposure for as little as a year to a 10mg/m3 increase was linked to a 20% higher death rate and the reverse was also true. Even more important to survival rates than air pollution were a number of socio-economic factors such as smoking and  income levels.

Key Quotes:
"Exposure to a 10 mg/m3 increase in PM2.5 during the same calendar year as the follow-up was associated with a 20% .. increase in death from all causes after adjusting for area level income deprivation and other confounders”

“death rates would be reduced by 12% among ACS [Acute Cardiac Syndrome]patients if they were exposed to naturally occurring PM2.5 rather than the higher levels they were actually exposed to”

"The most important message is that reduction in the amount of pollutants in metropolitan areas does indeed decrease cardiovascular mortality within a time interval as short as a few years…"


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