Air Pollution Linked to Increased Heart Disease Risk

New research finds that increased exposure to air pollution may heighten the risk of heart disease, especially among individuals with diabetes.

Investigators evaluated 73,117 adults living in Southern Israel—an area with a high level of air pollution—and used satellite data on the amount of sunlight that was blocked by particulate matter (PM), along with other weather data, to create a model that enabled the estimation of the daily air pollution that each participant was exposed to based on their address. All those taking part in the study were either smokers or had been diagnosed with diabetes, ischemic heart disease, high blood pressure, or high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and/or triglyceride levels.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In analyzing more than 600,000 blood samples taken from the participants, the authors found that exposure to higher levels of PM in the prior 3 months was linked to an increase in heart disease risk factors. In particular, the investigators determined that those with greater exposure to PM saw bigger increases in blood glucose levels, LDL cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels. In addition, increased PM exposure was connected to lower levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Those with diabetes fared worse after being exposed to more PM, although those using non-insulin medications demonstrated smaller changes in blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

While air pollution is linked with relatively small changes in cardiometabolic risk factors, “the continuous nature of exposure and the number of people affected gives us cause for concern,” said Victor Novack, MD, PhD, head of the Soroka Clinical Research Center at Soroka University Medical Center, and senior author of the study.

“Even small changes in glucose levels and glycemic control can contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Dr Novack, who is also a visiting scientist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

“We believe that the detailed environmental health exposure assessment should be a part of the routine medical care. This should include medical history of number of hours spent in driving, house proximity to the major highways, presence of the pets and carpets in the household, etc.,” he says, adding that future studies are needed “to understand if the reduction of the environmental exposure will lead to improving the patient metabolic profile.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference

Sade M, Kloog I, Liberty IF, Schwartz J, Novack V. The association between air pollution exposure and glucose and lipids levels [published online May 24, 2016]. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. doi:10.1210/jc.2016-1378