New York: In one of the largest studies to date, researchers examined the relationship between long-term air pollution exposure and coronary atherosclerosis and found that even at moderate levels, long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with more advanced coronary artery disease. The research was published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“This is one of the largest studies to use cardiac CT to show that air pollution is linked to more advanced coronary artery disease—going beyond calcium scoring to include total plaque burden and obstructive disease—in a population with moderate exposure levels typical of high-income countries,” said senior author Kate Hanneman, vice chair and associate professor at the University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging.
Previous studies have shown that short-term air pollution exposure (hours to days) is associated with increased Emergency Department visits for ischemic heart disease, hospital admissions for heart failure and greater use of medical imaging. Exposure over the longer term (months to years) is linked to increased risks of myocardial infarction, stroke and cardiovascular mortality.
Dr. Hanneman’s research team analyzed data from 11,128 adults who had undergone cardiac CT exams from 2012 through 2023 across three major hospitals in Toronto. The researchers evaluated the relationship between long-term exposures to two common pollutants found in urban air, ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
For individual patients, the findings may open the door to incorporating environmental exposure history into cardiovascular risk assessment, like clinicians would ask about smoking and family history.
