- WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Air
pollution causes heart disease, the American Heart Association said on
Tuesday.
-
- While pollution does not cause as many heart attacks
as high blood pressure, for example, it is a serious risk factor, the group
said in a statement.
-
- "This is a serious public health problem due to
the enormous number of people affected and because exposure to air pollution
occurs over an entire lifetime," said Dr. Robert Brook of the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who helped write the statement.
-
- Writing in the Association's journal Circulation, Brook
and colleagues said this was the first firm conclusion from the group about
the long-term effects of chronic exposure to pollution. Their statement
adds authority to a collection of findings that some groups have disputed.
-
- They reviewed as many published studies as they could
find on links between heart disease and pollution.
-
- Particulate matter pollution -- soot -- is especially
dangerous, they concluded. They also reaffirmed that secondhand smoke causes
heart disease.
-
- "A recent report from the American Cancer Society
study cohort found that long-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution
at levels that occur in North America increased the risk for cardiovascular
mortality," Brook said.
-
- Traffic is one of the worst sources, they found. An eight-year
study of 5,000 adults showed people who lived near a major road were more
likely to die of a cardiovascular problem.
-
- More study was needed to understand how, exactly, pollution
caused heart disease, the researchers said.
-
- "We hope that these conclusions will provide further
support to the importance of the present-day air quality standards,"
Brook said.
-
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