Air Pollution Causes Irregular Heart Beats and Blood Clot in Lungs: Study

Rising levels of air pollution pose a risk to heart health and lung functioning, warns a study.

Breathing air pollutants and mixture of harmful gases released as industrial and vehicular exhausts has led to a surge in premature deaths, respiratory illnesses, eye infections and lung cancer in the past few years. Recently, British experts found health conditions like irregular heartbeat, strokes and blood clots in the lungs are increasing due to air pollution.

Their study used data from three national records on deaths rates, hospitalization and emergency treatments for stroke, atrial fibrillation and pulmonary embolism or blood clot in lungs that occurred between 2003 and 2009 in the U.K.  The researchers also noted everyday temperature readings based on the official meteorological figures and the levels of air pollutants like carbon monoxide, particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

It was observed that a total of 400,000 heart attacks occurred during the entire study period with over two million emergency admissions for heart problems and related conditions. The study recorded about 600,000 deaths caused by heart attack and stroke within a period of five day as per the reports provided by a monitoring station in the country. But, their analysis could not conclude a direct association between cardiovascular diseases and air pollution. However, exposure to all air pollutants excluding particulate matter was linked to irregular heart rhythms and blood clots in lungs. Nitrogen dioxide exposure spiked up the hospitalization rates for heart illnesses including non-ST elevation heart attack and failure.  

Though the current trial did not identify a cause and effect relation between cardiovascular diseases and breathing harmful gases in atmosphere, cardiologist from University of Edinburg emphasize on the need to improve air quality.

"The current lack of consistent associations with contemporary UK data may suggest that as the fog begins to clear, the adverse health effects of air pollution are starting to have less of an impact and are more difficult to delineate," the authors write.

More information is available online in the journal Heart.