Air Pollution Shown to Increase Heart Disease Risk

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Byline: Patrick B. Massey, M.D.

Now we may be able to add air pollution to the list of factors of modern life that increase heart disease risk.

For some time, we have known that air pollution can make asthma and other lung diseases, like emphysema, worse. The annual medical cost of air pollution's impact on these diseases is measured in the tens of millions of dollars.

What we are now discovering is that air pollution may also accelerate the development of atherosclerosis and heart disease. Several medical studies have suggested a link between air pollution and heart disease in people who are already at risk because of high cholesterol, diabetes and high …