Exposure To Ultrafine Particles From Air Pollution For Six Hours Can Trigger A Heart Attack

Spending six to 12 hours outside on a smoggy day can result in a nonfatal heart attack, a new study suggested. According to researchers, if a person is exposed to a high level of ultrafine particles, he or she may suffer from a heart attack.

According to a study published in Environment Health Perspectives, ultrafine particles have negative effects on our health due to their small size, ability to penetrate into the lungs and massive active surface areas.

These minute particles, that majorly comes from car emissions, can increase the risk of heart attack by ten percent.

Poor diet and absence of any exercise were prime reasons for heart ailments, but rising pollution levels and these ultrafine particles are also to blame for increasing heart diseases.

The team of researchers studied data from all nonfatal heart attacks in Augsburg in Germany. The scientists analyzed the data of 5898 patients between 2005 and 2015. A big chunk of cases were patients not suffering from diabetes, hypertension, and obesity and not living alone.

During the study, it was revealed that exposure to particle matter or potentially related exposures can trigger the onslaught of a nonfatal heart attack.

According to Daily Mail, the World Health Organization states that seven million people worldwide die every year due to pollution with most deaths in Asia and Africa.

Researchers stated that every time the ultrafine particles in the air increased, chances of nonfatal heart attack increased by 3.27 percent.

“This study confirms something that has long been suspected - air pollution's tiny particles can play a role in serious heart disease,” Dr. Kai Chen, lead author of the study, said.

“This represents an important step toward understanding the appropriate indicator of ultrafine particles exposure in determining the short-term health effects, as the effects of particle length and surface concentrations were stronger than the ones of particle number concentration and remained similar after adjustment for other air pollutants,” Chen said.

He added that future studies will analyze the combined hourly exposure to extreme temperature and air pollution.