2023-07-25 11:01:29
A heat wave, or a cold wave, and very high pollution levels can be a deadly cocktail. This is shown by a study published in the journal «Circulation» conducted in China which has found that the combination of extreme heat and fine particle pollution can double the risk of death from heart attack.
“Heat waves with extreme, prolonged and intense temperatures are becoming more frequent, and their adverse health effects are causing concern. Another environmental problem around the world is the presence of fine particles in the air, which can interact synergistically with extreme temperatures to negatively affect cardiovascular health,” explains lead author Yuewei Liu, from the Sun Yat-sen University School of Public Health en Guangzhou.
However, he adds, “it is not yet known whether and how joint exposure to extreme temperatures and fine particle pollution could interact.” could trigger increased risk of death from heart attackwhich is an acute response potentially triggered by an acute scenario and a major public health challenge due to its substantial disease burden worldwide.”
To examine the impact of extreme temperatures with and without high levels of fine particle pollution, the researchers analyzed 202,678 heart attack deaths between 2015 and 2020 that occurred in Jiangsu province, a region with four distinct seasons and a wide range of temperatures and levels of fine particle pollution. The deaths occurred in older people with an average age of 77.6 years.
Particle exposure on the day of each death and one day before death were included in the analysis.
Las extreme temperatures they were measured according to the daily heat index (also known as apparent temperature) for an area, which captures the combined effect of heat and humidity.
Likewise, both the duration and intensity of heat waves and cold waves were evaluated.
Heart attack deaths during these periods were compared to control days on the same weekday in the same month, meaning that if a death occurred on a Wednesday, all other Wednesdays in the same month would be considered control days. Particle levels were considered high on any day with an average fine particulate level above 37.5 micrograms per cubic meter.
“Our findings provide evidence that reducing exposure to both extreme temperatures and fine particle pollution can prevent premature deaths from heart attacks, especially for women and older adults,” Liu says.
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The fine particles are less than 2.5 microns in size and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can irritate the lungs and blood vessels around the heart. Most are associated with the combustion of fuels, such as car exhaust, factory emissions or forest fires. Previous research has confirmed that exposure to particles, including fine particles, is linked to heart disease, stroke, and other health problems.
The goal of the World Health Organization for the average annual exposure to fine particulate matter pollution level is not more than 5 micrograms per cubic meter and not more than 15 micrograms per cubic meter for more than 3-4 days per year
The study shows that, compared to control days, the risk of a fatal heart attack was 18% higher during 2-day heat waves and 74% higher during 4-day heat waves with heat indices. In the study, 6,417 (3.2%) of the 202,678 observed heart attack deaths occurred during a heat wave of three days or more.
But snaps of extreme cold were also associated with an increased risk of death from a heart attack. Thus, they increased by 4% during cold waves lasting 2 days and 12% if the cold wave lasted 3 days. Thus, 6,331 (3.1%) of the 202,678 observed heart attack deaths occurred during cold spells of 3 days or more.
The researchers estimated that up to 2.8% of heart attack deaths can be attributed to the combination of extreme temperatures and high levels of fine particulate pollution (>37.5 micrograms per cubic meter).
The authors believe that more research is needed on the possible effects interactive analysis of extreme weather events and fine particle pollution on heart attack deaths in areas with different ranges of temperature and pollution to confirm their findings.
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