New study finds direct link between air pollution and heart problems

May 2, 2023 – A new study gives people at risk of heart problems a good reason to keep an eye out for the daily air quality warnings often included in weather reports. Researchers have found a direct relationship between increased air pollution and the risk of having irregular heartbeat problems such as atrial fibrillation.

The authors of the study, published Monday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, said their findings were important because previous studies of the impact of air pollution on heart rhythm problems had found mixed results, although they noted that many studies had issues with how which 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 called arrhythmias, on an hourly level. The researchers looked at the health information of more than 190,000 people and air pollution data in China between 2015 and 2021. The health data came from a Chinese health database that included hourly records of cases where people had irregular heartbeat problems in more than 2,000 hospitals covering 322 Chinese cities. The researchers overlaid this 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 extrasystoles, and supraventricular tachycardia. An irregular heartbeat means the heart can’t pump blood properly, which could damage or shut down the lungs, brain or other organs, 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 likelihood of having atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia. The pollutant nitrogen dioxide had the strongest impact on the chances of having an arrhythmia. The authors noted that there was no minimum level of air pollution that seemed to trigger symptoms. In all their calculations, as air pollution increased, so did the risk of arrhythmia. Air pollution has had the greatest impact on men, people under 65 and during colder seasons. They wrote that the findings underscore “the importance of further reducing exposure to air pollution and quickly protecting sensitive populations around the world.”