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21/09/2011
Car Fumes 'Increase Risk Of Heart Attacks'
Car fumes and other air pollution can increase the chances of having a heart attack for up to six hours after being breathed in, new research has found.
Scientists studied almost 80,000 cases of heart attacks and discovered there was a 'window' when the risk rose due to high levels of the traffic pollutants PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Conclusions showed that higher levels of PM10 and NO2, which are typically markers of traffic related pollution, seem to be associated with transiently increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) for as long as six hours after exposure, but later reductions in risk suggest that air pollution may be associated with bringing events forward in time (known as short-term displacement) rather than increasing overall risk.
However, the study in the British Medical Journal found that after more than six hours there was no increased risk of heart attack.
Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was behind the research, thinks high levels of air pollutants could bring forward heart attacks but said that they would have happened anyway.
He said: "Although we found a short period of increased risk of heart attacks in the few hours after air pollution peaks, the risk was small and had little net impact on the overall number of heart attacks.
"But the overall message is that air pollution is not good for anyone and we should continue efforts to reduce the amount in the atmosphere."
(BMcC/GK)
Scientists studied almost 80,000 cases of heart attacks and discovered there was a 'window' when the risk rose due to high levels of the traffic pollutants PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
Conclusions showed that higher levels of PM10 and NO2, which are typically markers of traffic related pollution, seem to be associated with transiently increased risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) for as long as six hours after exposure, but later reductions in risk suggest that air pollution may be associated with bringing events forward in time (known as short-term displacement) rather than increasing overall risk.
However, the study in the British Medical Journal found that after more than six hours there was no increased risk of heart attack.
Dr Krishnan Bhaskaran from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who was behind the research, thinks high levels of air pollutants could bring forward heart attacks but said that they would have happened anyway.
He said: "Although we found a short period of increased risk of heart attacks in the few hours after air pollution peaks, the risk was small and had little net impact on the overall number of heart attacks.
"But the overall message is that air pollution is not good for anyone and we should continue efforts to reduce the amount in the atmosphere."
(BMcC/GK)
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