Writing in the May 7 edition of Circulation , researchers found heart attack survivors living less than 100meters or 328 feet from a roadway have a 27 percent higher risk ofover within 10 years than survivors living at least 1,000 metersaway. That risk recedes to 13 percent for those living between 200and 1,000-meter or 656 to 3,277-feet from the roadway. "Living close to a highway is associated with adversecardiovascular outcomes in those with underlying cardiacdisease," says Murray Mittleman, MD, DrPH, a physician in theCardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center,an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School anddirector of BIDMC's cardiovascular epidemiological researchprogram. "Besides air pollution, exposure to noise could be apossible mechanism underlying this association." The Onset study of 3,547 heart attack survivors in 64 communityhospitals and tertiary care medical centers recorded 1,071 deathsover 10 years. Of that total, 63 percent of the patients died ofcardiovascular disease, 12 percent died of cancer and 4 percentexpired from respiratory disease. Researchers analyzed factors suchas personal, clinical and neighborhood-level characteristics suchas income and education. "People with lower levels of education and income are morelikely to live in communities closer to a major roadway, so theyare bearing a larger burden of the risk associated with exposurethan people with more resources," says Mittleman. In a study published earlier this year, a team led by Mittlemanfound air pollution, even at levels generally considered safe byfederal regulations, increases the risk of stroke by 34 percent.Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter, generally from vehicletraffic, was associated with a significantly higher risk ofischemic strokes on days when the EPA's air quality index forparticulate matter was yellow instead of green. These finding provide new evidence that long-term exposure toroadways is associated with an increased risk of death in patientswith underlying cardiovascular disease. "Clinicians need to educate their patients on the risks posedby particulate matter pollution and encourage patients withcardiovascular disease to avoid unnecessary exposure totraffic," says Mittleman. "On a public policy level, city planners should considerlocating housing developments away from the most heavily traffickedroadways." "This study adds to the growing knowledge linking roadways andtraffic to health problems, even death, especially among those withpre-existent disease -- in this case a previous heart attack,"says Dan Costa, ScD, DABT, National Program Director for AirClimate & Energy Research in U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency Office of Research and Development Research. In addition to Mittleman, co-authors include Joshua I. Rosenbloom,MPH, Elizabeth H. Wilker ScD, of the BIDMC CardiovascularEpidemiological Research Unit; Kenneth J. Mukamal MD. MPH ofBIDMC's Division of General Medicine and Primary Care; and JoelSchwartz, PhD of the Harvard School of Public Health. The study was funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency andthe National Institute of Environmental Health Science. Wilker wassupported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health andRosenbloom was supported by the Harvard Medical School Scholars inMedicine Office. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Manual Recliner Manufacturer , Sliding Seat Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Manual Recliner.
Related Articles -
Manual Recliner Manufacturer, Sliding Seat Manufacturer,
|