Novel evidence for a greater burden of ambient air pollution on cardiovascular disease.

Novel evidence for a greater burden of ambient air pollution on cardiovascular disease. Haematologica. 2019 Oct 31;: Authors: Mannucci PM, Harari S, Franchini M Abstract Ambient and household air pollution is a major health problem, contributing globally and annually to approximately 7 millions of all-cause avoidable deaths, shortening of life expectancy and significant direct and indirect costs for the community. Air pollution is a complex mixture of gaseous and particulate materials, that vary depending on their source and physicochemical features. Each material has detrimental effects on human health, but a number of experimental and clinical studies have shown a strong impact for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). In particular, there is more and more evidence that PM2.5 exerts adverse effects particularly on the cardiovascular system, contributing substantially -- mainly through mechanisms of atherosclerosis, thrombosis and inflammation -- to coronary artery and cerebrovascular disease, but also to heart failure, hypertension, diabetes and cardiac arrhythmias. In this review, we summarize knowledge on the mechanisms and magnitude of the cardiovascular adverse effects of short- and long-term exposure to ambient air pollution, particularly for the PM2.5 size fraction. We also emphasize that very recent data indicate that the global mortality and morbidity burden of cardiovascular disease associated with this air pollutant is dramati...
Source: Haematologica - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: Haematologica Source Type: research