{"id":3398,"date":"2016-06-01T11:39:46","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T06:09:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/in\/?p=3398"},"modified":"2020-07-15T11:56:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T03:56:29","slug":"air-pollution-can-break-your-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/blog\/air-pollution-can-break-your-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Pollution Can Break Your Heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, air pollution has been linked to heart disease but scientists haven’t been able to understand\u00a0how, exactly, it breaks your heart. Last week, researchers in the U.S. released<\/a> results from a long-term study that shed light; they found that air pollution thickens blood and hardens arteries, accelerating\u00a0atherosclerosis \u2014 a disease in which plaque (calcium, fat, cholesterol and other substances) builds up in arteries, preventing\u00a0oxygen-rich blood from reaching organs or body parts. This leads to the development of other\u00a0diseases based on which arteries and body parts are affected, including heart attacks, stroke, or even death.<\/p>\n

The study tracked 6795 participants in 6 U.S. cities between the ages of 45-84, all without a previous history of cardiovascular disease.\u00a0Participants ranged from four ethnicities and came from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. Researchers then scanned participants’ arteries over a course of 10 years. \u00a0At the same time, they\u00a0measured concentrations of PM2.5 and traffic-related gases called nitrogen oxides (NOx) outside participants’ homes, while\u00a0creating estimates for the concentrations of pollution participants inhaled\u00a0during time spent indoors.<\/p>\n

The study found that PM2.5 and NOx were strongly associated with the build up coronary artery calcium, which\u00a0accelerates atherosclerosis. Joel Kaufman, the lead author and a professor at the University of Washington, explained to ThinkProgress<\/a> that air pollution may trigger cell inflammation, affecting white blood cells that protect the body against infectious diseases. As white blood cells accumulate, they build up\u00a0plaque, causing atherosclerosis.\u00a0This mechanism may explain\u00a0why air pollution has also been linked to cardiovascular problems and mortality.<\/p>\n

In the study, participants’ pollutant concentrations between the years\u00a02000 and 2010\u00a0ranged from 9\u00b72 to 22\u00b76 \u03bcg\/m\u00b3 for PM2.5\u00a0and 7\u00b72 to 139\u00b72 parts per billion (ppb) for NOx. For every\u00a05 \u03bcg\/m\u00b3 increase in PM2\u00b75 and for every 40 ppb increase in NOx, coronary calcium deposits progressed by about 20%.<\/p>\n

Though the results of the study are sobering, it’s important to note that the study was done in the U.S. under air pollution levels that fall well below the World Health Organization’s recommended PM2.5 exposure of 25 \u03bcg\/m\u00b3.<\/p>\n

Comparatively, North Indian cities tend to have significantly higher annual average PM2.5 levels, with Gwalior at 176, Patna at 149, and Delhi at 122. Further research needs to be conducted to understand how such high levels impact the severity of plaque build up and heart disease. However,\u00a0a comprehensive\u00a0Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study<\/a>\u00a0calculated that about 5.5 million people prematurely died in 2013 because of indoor and outdoor air pollution.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For years, air pollution has been linked to heart disease but scientists haven’t been able to understand\u00a0how, exactly, it breaks your heart. Last week, researchers in the U.S. released results from a long-term study that shed light; they found that air pollution thickens blood and hardens arteries, accelerating\u00a0atherosclerosis \u2014 a … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":331,"featured_media":3530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[39,40],"class_list":["post-3398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-air-pollution","tag-mortality","tag-research","resize-featured-image"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3398"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11483,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3398\/revisions\/11483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartairfilters.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}