Air Pollution Linked To Changes In Heart Structure, Study Shows (theguardian.com)

Researchers say air pollution is linked to changes in the structure of the heart of the sort seen in early stages of heart failure. "The findings could help explain the increased number of deaths seen in areas with high levels of dirty air," reports The Guardian. From the report: "What we don't know is what is the mechanism behind it, why is air pollution leading to increased risk of heart attack and stroke?" said Dr Nay Aung, a cardiologist at Queen Mary University of London and first author of the research. The latest study helps to unpick the conundrum. Writing in the journal Circulation, Aung and colleagues report that they found exposure to nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter, known as PM2.5 and PM10 particles, is linked to an increase in the size of two of the chambers of the heart, the left and right ventricle. PM particles are commonly emitted by motor vehicles, among other sources. The authors add that similar changes can affect the performance of the heart and are often seen before heart failure takes hold.

The team used data from almost 4,000 volunteers who were part of a wider research effort known as the UK Biobank. These participants were aged between 40 and 69 years old, had been at the same address for the whole study, and were free from cardiovascular disease at the outset. Crucially, their data included cardiac MRI scans, which offer detailed images of the structure and function of the heart. The study also involved estimates of the outdoor concentrations of different pollutants at participants' home addresses at about five years prior to the scan. After controlling for factors including age, sex, income and smoking history, the team found that higher exposure to PM2.5 particles, PM10 particles and nitrogen dioxide were each linked to a greater volume of both the right and left ventricles after they had filled with blood.

Comments

So Change It Back

[Anonymous Coward]

If these heart structure changes caused air pollution, why don't we just revert the hearts back to normal?

Environmentalism

[Anonymous Coward]

See, environmentalism is about human health in the end. Even if it's to save some beetle, somewhere down the ecological chain, it will affect human health somehow - our planet's ecosystem is way too complex to fuck with it. Fumigate for mosquitoes? Guess what? It's also killing the pollinators.

But the business community has done a wonderful job convincing at least half of our population that protecting our environment is some liberal snowflake luxury created by people who prefer animals over humans.

I know. My father-in-law has stents, wheezes on every code yellow smog day, but don't you dare say anything about his big-ass diesel truck.

Or the people who live in coal mining communities who hated Obama for his polcies but bitch and moan about their drinking water being poisoned.

Re:Environmentalism

[The Grim Reefer]

I know. My father-in-law has stents, wheezes on every code yellow smog day, but don't you dare say anything about his big-ass diesel truck.

Totally different from this study. The stents were needed due to plaque building up in the coronary arteries. This is mostly a genetic issue due to high LDL cholesterol and low HDL cholesterol. The study is talking about pollutants having a correlation to enlarged left an right ventricular volume in both end diastole (when the heart is relaxed and the ventricle is at it's largest) and during end systole (when the heart is fully contracted and pushing blood out of the ventricle). I'll have to look at the full paper later, but the article is not well written. But from the abstract it's much different from the way the article is written. In the article it sounds more like a hypertension response which would cause the myocardium to thicken. But that's not the case in the abstract.

Re:Environmentalism

[Anonymous Coward]

Conflating completely different kinds of things together is a serious failing. Environmentalism is a broad term, and if it weren't used in such a loaded way, you would get a lot more support. Almost everyone hates smog, and particulate pollution, as well as several other pollutants.

Where many people object is where you put one of several thousand kinds of bird ahead of people, and where you try to drastically harm the economy in what even its proponents realize wouldn't truly help reduce the levels of a directly harmless gas (CO2). When you conflate things, if I don't support massive increases in cost to keep CO2 down, I have to reject your entire agenda. It wasn't business that convinced half the country, it was the environmentalist movement itself. Side Note: There are a lot of conservative arguments you can make for protecting the environment, both moral and practical, yet almost no one ever makes them.

Re:Environmentalism

[sjames]

Evidence for CO2 emissions being harmful is legion. Climatologists have gathered their data and applied a hypothesis to make a prediction. The prediction is coming true.

Re:Environmentalism

[Anonymous Coward]

So the smog that makes him wheeze is due to his bodies cholesterol?

Is it just me?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, we should prevent Changes In Heart Structure, thereby reducing Air Pollution?

Re:Is it just me?

[Desler]

Yeah we got your attempt at a joke already from the post above.

Want to REALLY SEE SOMETHING?

[Anonymous Coward]

Look at a stoner's cardio/pulmonary system. Like an 85 year old man.

Proportional to oxygen consumption?

[JoeyRox]

At rest the heart consumes approx 11.6% of the human body's oxygen intake. This percentage increases during exercise, including walking, an activity one would expect while outdoors and exposed to pollution.

Re:Proportional to oxygen consumption?

[polar red]

Some pollutants are higher inside the car, than outside on the road (or in a park...) so I don't think outdoors exercise necessarily exposes you to more pollution.

Poor sick people

[AHuxley]

live in poor areas with lower cost housing near pollution and get found to be sick...
Is the dirty air so restricted to some areas? Poverty? Diet? Lack of good food? Work related tasks? Lack of good health care? Lack of any new health care spending to ensure better health services for all?
Not seeing a doctor more often? Lifestyle, diet, work exposure and poverty?

Re:Poor sick people

[blindseer]

They claim to have controlled for most or all of the factors you've raised.

After controlling for factors including age, sex, income and smoking history, the team found that higher exposure to PM2.5 particles, PM10 particles and nitrogen dioxide were each linked to a greater volume of both the right and left ventricles after they had filled with blood.

As so many things are linked to income, such as diet and access to medical care, I suspect that piling on more on top of that is unlikely to add more information.

Re:Poor sick people

[AHuxley]

A city could be "covered" in dirty air. So that would see the total population have more of the issues "everywhere" around a city.

Re:Poor sick people

[Jane Q. Public]

They say they controlled for some confounding factors, but there are so many potential confounding factors here, I will not assign this study much credibility.

There are so many other factors: people in those neighborhoods being exposed to other pollutants, maybe not getting enough exercise (or, conversely, too physically stressed), the quality of the water and the things in it, etc. etc. etc. There are FAR too many to list, and the researchers could not possibly have controlled for all of them.

Take this with a grain of salt the size of a basketball.

Re:Poor sick people

[mikael]

The dirty air is concentrated around motorways, gas stations and main roads, and it isn't poor people. I worked in one of these areas. Inside the air-conditioned/filtered office I could walk around normally, but the moment I went outside, the NO2 would hit me .. walking down to the bus stop was like being anaesthetized by dental gas at the same time - the smell was noticable. Most other employees would drive so that wasn't a problem for them. Anyone who walked would notice. You'd feel a tightness on the centre of your chest where the muscles to control lung inhalation are.

I'd leave the office with plans for the evening. By the time I got home, I felt so heavy, I'd crash out for a few hours until I got the NO2 out of my system. With terraced streets, these are basically trenches that fill up with NO2 and CO2, with nowhere else for it to go.

despite being fun loving & wildly popular...

[Anonymous Coward]

the penguins are in big trouble/up against the ropes.. again.... no digital wizardry required.. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antarctic-science/article/massive-decline-of-the-worlds-largest-king-penguin-colony-at-ile-aux-cochons-crozet/E254E3E24DE3BDC523B25FA3A3261584/core-reader# ..

Slashdot only allows anonymous users to post 10 times per day (more or less, depending on moderation). A user from your IP has already shared his or her thoughts with us that many times. Take a breather, and come back and see us in 24 hours or so. If you think this is unfair, please email posting@slashdot.org with your particulars... just don't call it censorship.. no heart no spirit no life..

Cleaner air with CNG, wind, hydro, and nuclear

[blindseer]

We should switch our vehicles to natural gas, because it is far cleaner than liquid hydrocarbons.
http://www.cngnow.com/what-is-...

NGVs improve air quality through dramatic reductions in emissions, such as:

        Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 20% to 30%
        Reducing carbon monoxide (CO) emissions up to 75%
        Reducing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by approximately 50%
        Reducing up to 95% of particle matter (PM) emissions
        Reducing volatile organic compound (VOCs) emissions by 55%

Source: TIAX Report - Full Fuel Cycle Assessment: Well-To-Wheels Energy Inputs, Emissions, and Water Impacts, 08/2007 (Prepared for California Energy Commission).

Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy - Argonne National Laboratory Report: A Full Fuel-Cycle Analysis of Energy and Emissions Impacts of Transportation Fuels Produced from Natural Gas, 12/1999.

Vehicles that run on natural gas exist already.
http://www.cngnow.com/vehicles...

They run cheap, fill up fast (unlike electrics), and get good range on one tank. There's likely a CNG filling station near you, and there's an option to fill up at home.
https://maps.cngnow.com/
http://www.cngnow.com/vehicles...

There's a lot of natural gas and we'd have even more if we stop burning it for electricity. Instead of natural gas for electricity we should have nuclear, wind, and hydro. By using pumped hydro storage, grid scale batteries, and demand shifting incentives, we should be able to shift relatively quickly. In the long term we'd need better load following technology like thermal energy storage and fourth generation nuclear.

Re:Cleaner air with CNG, wind, hydro, and nuclear

[Jane Q. Public]

As long as it is in the tank, natural gas IS a liquid hydrocarbon.

Re:Cleaner air with CNG, wind, hydro, and nuclear

[Anonymous Coward]

Um, no. CNG = compressed natural gas.

What is the cause of causality?

[Anonymous Coward]

We hear of changes in the hearts of United Kingdominees linked to the Brexit phenomenon, but we doubt whether those are the prime cause of air pollution, which has plagued England for more than 200 years.

Conservatives

[Anonymous Coward]

Conservatives should make sure that EPA maximizes Laws and Regulations for the Cleanest Air and the Cleanest Water as much as possible.
What would Clean Air and Clean Water do for America?
* Keeps us healthy
* Less doctor visits
* Keeps are Industries competitive like Auto to compete with foreign Autos
* It creates new companies and jobs => companies would have to buy products and services to comply with the tuff laws.
* Less droughts
* Oh!, it would also save species from extinction
* There is a lot more to add to this list just by keeping the Water and Air super clean

This post is a candidate

[rickb928]

for worst headline ever.