Air quality linked to heart attack risk

Low air quality has been definitively linked to an increased heart attack risk by London-based researchers.

Scientists from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that after being exposed to high levels of exhaust fumes, the chances a person would suffer a heart attack increased by 1.3 per cent for six hours.

The researchers found that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particles known as PM10s were responsible for the increased chance of a heart attack.

"Higher levels of PM10 and NO2, which are typically markers of traffic related pollution, seem to be associated with transiently increased risk of myocardial infarction," the authors of the new research paper, which was published in the British Medical Journal, claimed.

The UK's Environmental Audit Committee states that as many as 50,000 deaths per year could be the result of low air quality in Britain's towns and cities.

In the US, Barack Obama has introduced a new cap on inner-city NO2 levels under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which will come into effect in January of next year.

Posted by Lauren Steadman