May 2, 2023 – A new study gives people at risk of heart problems a good reason to watch out for the daily air quality advisories often included in weather reports. The researchers found a direct relationship between increases in air pollution and the risk of irregular heartbeat problems, such as atrial fibrillation.
The authors of the study, which was published Monday in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, He said his findings were important because previous studies on the impact of air pollution on heart rhythm problems have had mixed results, though he noted that many of the studies had problems with the way they were designed.
The aim of this latest study was to examine the relationship between air pollution and the onset of irregular heartbeat problems, collectively known as arrhythmias, at the hourly level. The researchers analyzed the health information of more than 190,000 people and air pollution data from China between 2015 and 2021. The health data came from a Chinese health database that included hourly records of when people had irregular heartbeat problems in more than 2000 hospitals covering 322 Chinese cities. The researchers combined that data with hourly air pollution readings taken near hospitals.
The types of arrhythmias included in the study were atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, atrial and ventricular premature beats, and supraventricular tachycardia. An irregular heartbeat means the heart can’t pump blood properly, which could cause the lungs, brain or other organs to become damaged or stop working, according to the American Heart Association.
The increased risk of exposure to air pollution generally subsided after 24 hours. Air pollution had the greatest impact on the odds of having atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia. The polluting nitrogen dioxide had the biggest impact on someone’s chances of suffering an arrhythmia. The authors noted that there was no minimum level of air pollution that seemed to trigger the symptoms. In all their calculations, as air pollution increased, so did the chances of having an arrhythmia. Air pollution had the greatest impact on men, on people under the age of 65, and during the coldest seasons. They wrote that the results highlight “the importance of further reducing exposure to air pollution and early protection of susceptible populations worldwide.”
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