Study links pollution to heart attacks in nonsmokers

The AIR POLLUTION could be associated with heart attacks in nonsmokersaccording to a study done by the Berlin Myocardial Infarction Registry (B2HIR) presented at the European Congress of Cardiology (ESC-2022), which is being held in Barcelona.

According to the study, this correlation between air pollution and myocardial infarctions, on the contrary, is not observed among smokers, “who are not affected by polluted air,” explained Dr. Insa de Buhr-Stochburguer.

“This may indicate that polluted air can actually cause heart attacks. since smokers, who are continuously intoxicated by air pollutants, seem less affected by additional external pollutants,” Buhr-Stockburger added.

The study, which included 17,873 patients with a myocardial infarction between 2008 and 2014. enrolled in the B2HIR, analyzed the associations between the incidence of acute infarction and mean pollutant concentrations on the same day, the previous day, and the mean of the previous three days among all patients.

The study showed, in terms of pollution, that myocardial infarction is. significantly more frequent on days with high concentrations of nitric oxide with a 1% higher incidence; myocardial infarction is also more frequent when there is a high average concentration of pollutant microparticles. during the previous three days, with a 4% higher incidence.

“The study indicates that the Dirty air is a risk factor for acute myocardial infarction.” Buhr-Stockburger has summarized, who has insisted that “more efforts are needed to reduce pollution from traffic and combustion.”