Air Pollution and Heart Disease

It's widely known that smoking is bad for your heart and blood vessels in general. But the latest research shows it's not just tobacco smoke that can damage the cardiovascular system. Now, new research in the February issue of Environmental Health Perspectives shows long-term exposure to air pollution may lead to the development of atherosclerosis. This is where fatty deposits form in the artery walls, causing them to thicken, harden, and block off blood flow.

It's widely known that smoking is bad for your heart and blood vessels in general. But the latest research shows it's not just tobacco smoke that can damage the cardiovascular system. New research in the Environmental Health Perspectives shows long-term exposure to air pollution may lead to the development of atherosclerosis. This is where fatty deposits form in the artery walls, causing them to thicken, harden, and block off blood flow. It's believed that air pollution is somehow stimulating inflammation in the body and in the blood vessels in particular.

That sustained inflammation then leads to increased hardening of the arteries. Dr. Harvey Hecht, Director of Preventive Cardiology at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, says, "Something that enters the systems which stimulates a reaction in the lining of the artery, that results in formation of plaque can then tear and result in heart attacks, or gradually form more and more plaque which narrows the artery." Overall, the more polluted the air to which subjects were exposed, the thicker the inner layers of their carotid artery, which transports blood to the head and neck.

And if there is a blockage there, then it can be presumed the blockages throughout the body, including arteries which feed the heart. The question is, what's in the pollutants that's causing the inflammation and damage? "Well the question might be what's not in these pollutants. Certainly it's almost like the garbage system in the air, because everything, the waste product from human activities, from industrial activities, from transportation, all accumulates into the atmosphere." states Dr. Hecht.

The study was done in Los Angeles, one of the more polluted cities in the nation. It found that long-term exposure to air pollution may lead to the development of hardening of the arteries. Women over the age of 60 experienced artery thickening at four times the rate of the general population. In general, women were much more vulnerable than men, and nonsmokers and people taking drugs to reduce cholesterol also proved to be more vulnerable.

"Since we are looking very desperately for measures to reduce the incidence of heart disease, which is the biggest killer in our society, we really should pay a lot more attention to things that could be significantly easier to control than our own bodies, so if we can control the amount of pollutants in the atmosphere, we may make a major stride in decreasing the likelihood of having a heart attack." Dr. Hecht states. Given that heart disease is the number one killer in America, the researchers believe more research on the effects of air pollution on the cardiovascular system should be focused on those at highest risk.

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