The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) today published the findings of a study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine Researchers and funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The findings indicate a significant independent association between exposure to long term air pollution and the acceleration of atherosclerosis and vascular inflammation in an animal model. For the first time researchers were able to substantiate the findings by recreating real-world exposure to air pollution in concentrations and size molecules strongly linked with cardiovascular disease.
"The findings validate breathing polluted air for an extended period of time puts you at substantial risk for heart disease, and the publication in JAMA certainly adds to the body of evidence," said Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan, MD FACC, Associate Professor of Medicine and Radiology, Director Clinical Cardiovascular MRI and CT Program at the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of this study. "It has tremendous ramifications for public health and health policy for those of us living in cities."
Real-world study validates findings
Other published studies on this topic use data collected from time-series analysis of human participants or in vitro studies where cells were exposed to non-physiologic and sometimes high concentrations of particulate matter. However, air pollution particles most strongly linked with cardiovascular disease are 2.5µm (PM2.5) and smaller and primarily derived from stationary and traffic-related combustion sources.