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Traffic can literally trigger heart attack: study
Oct. 20, 2004 by Canadian Broadcasting Company
TORONTO - Heavy traffic not only stresses drivers out, it can actually
increase the risk of a heart attack in susceptible people, doctors have
found.
Researchers found exposure to traffic can triple the risk of a heart attack
in people who are already prone to having one, whether they are drivers,
cyclists, pedestrians or riders of public transit.
The
study, which was partly funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
appears in Thursday's issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Lead
investigator Annette Peters, at the GSF National Research Center in
Neuherberg, Germany, and colleagues collected data from about 700 people in
southern Germany who had a heart attack.
Peters' team reported eight per cent of the heart attacks were linked to
traffic, after accounting for the effect of hard exercise among cyclists and
the typical morning stresses previously linked to heart attacks.
"They
found that if you were going to have a heart attack that it was more likely
to happen within an hour of being exposed to traffic," said Dr. Jonathan
Howlett, a cardiologist in Halifax.
The
study's authors put most of the blame for the increased risk on microscopic
air pollutants.
Evidence that air pollution can play a role in heart disease has been
accumulating, noted Dr. Jack Tu, a senior scientist with the Institute for
Clinical Evaluative Sciences in Toronto.
"Certain particles in the air may cause what we call a coronary plaque,
which is a blockage of the artery, to rupture leading to a heart attack,"
said Tu. "That's the theory behind this phenomenon."
Tu
said the findings are particularly important for those with heart disease,
angina or who've had a heart attack, adding they should try to minimize
their exposure to traffic.
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