How air pollution spikes are causing irregular heartbeats

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A new study discovered that increases in air pollution increase the likelihood of cardiac arrhythmias.

The study indicated a considerable rise in the incidence of arrhythmias in the first few hours after an increase in air pollution levels, based on over 200,000 hospital admissions in China. Arrhythmias in the heart can raise the risk of heart disease and sudden cardiac death.

Read more: Air pollutants kill children in Europe, raise risk of illness

Dr Renjie Chen of Fudan University in Shanghai stated that the risks occured "during the first several hours after exposure and could persist for 24 hours.”

Research published last year found a relationship between fine particle air pollution and cardiac arrhythmias in otherwise healthy teens, confirming that this poses a significant health risk. The study also found that the risk of exposure to six contaminants was nearly linear, with no evident safe threshold.

The study comprised 190,115 individuals with abrupt onset arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, premature beats, and supraventricular tachycardia, who were hospitalized to hospitals in 322 Chinese cities. The researchers examined the amounts of six air pollutants from monitoring stations nearest to the reporting hospitals since air pollution in China is significantly over the World Health Organization's standards for air quality.

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exhibited the strongest link with all four forms of arrhythmia. The precise impact of air pollution is unknown, although there is some evidence that it promotes oxidative stress and inflammation, which can disrupt the electrical activity of the heart.

“Although the exact mechanisms are not yet fully understood, the association between air pollution and acute onset of arrhythmia that we observed is biologically plausible,” the authors of the study wrote.

Recent research found that on high-pollution days in England, hundreds more patients are sent to hospitals for emergency care after suffering cardiac arrests, strokes, and asthma attacks. The British Heart Foundation anticipated in 2020 that air pollution-related strokes and heart attacks might kill more than 160,000 people over the next decade.

The health consequences go beyond heart disease, with research indicating that particulate air pollution is increasing lung cancer rates by reactivating dormant mutations that cause tumor growth.

According to the authors, these findings, which were published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, underscore the need to protect at-risk patients during periods of high air pollution and to limit total exposure.

Last month, David Boyd, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, told The Guardian that as a result of heavy pollution, "sacrifice zones" have been created across the planet - these zones see plentiful suffering, with millions suffering from strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease.