The main factor causing heart attacks in people with coronary artery disease is neither stress nor exercise, but air pollution, believe scientists from Birmingham, whose findings are discussed in the Lancet monthly.
Prolonged exposure to traffic jams, both driving and walking in areas where exhaust gas contamination is high, has been identified as the single most dangerous risk factor for heart attacks.
According to the researchers, the biggest risk factor for an attack is poisoned air containing microscopic particles of dust or soot with a diameter of no more than 10 microns (1 micron is 1/1000000 mm) that penetrate the lungs and cause inflammation.
According to prof. Jon Ayers, respiratory specialist at the University of Birmingham, molecules increase the risk of inducing breathing difficulties, they can make blood sticky. In people with coronary artery disease, this can be a factor in triggering a heart attack.
Air poisoning is associated not only with heart attacks, but also with stroke and cancer. Asthmatics are more likely to attack when air pollution is high.
Diesel exhaust fumes are the most dangerous, as they emit particles that penetrate the lungs more easily. On the other hand, vehicles with the engine running when standing at the traffic lights emit denser vapors.
I would also avoid street canyons on both sides with skyscrapers forming valleys where pollution particles settle – advises prof. Fan Chung from Imperial College London.
Among the preventive measures, experts recommend that heart patients keep potted plants at home, remove electric air fresheners from the apartment and ventilate rooms, do not walk close to the curb, walk in windy, rainy weather. They advise against jogging and cycling in heavy traffic areas.
Dangerous for heart patients is also the high level of ozone in the air, which is produced when the sun’s rays react with chemicals emitted by vehicles and industrial plants. This causes inflammation of the lungs.
Two weeks of summer vacation in the countryside will not compensate the lungs for the damage caused to them during the year. Most people go on vacation in the summer, when the ozone level in the air is at its highest – emphasizes prof. Ayers. (PAP)