Even low levels of air pollution increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

Long-term exposure to air pollution may increase the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease, even if the air pollution level is below the upper limit set by the European Union and the WHO

"Our findings show that current air quality guidelines do not provide adequate protection," said Petter Ljungman, associate professor at the Karolinska Institute Institute of Environmental Medicine and the last co-author of the paper.

This study is a major European collaborative study involving more than 137,000 participants from six different cohorts from Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany, with an average follow-up time of 17 years

"We found that in the place where you live, an increase of 5 micrograms per cubic meter of fine particles in the air increases the risk of stroke by 10%.

The researchers also linked nitrogen dioxide and carbon black to an increased risk of stroke

Researchers were unable to detect any safety threshold, and air pollution levels below this threshold are not harmful to cardiovascular health

Peter Ljungman said: "This is worrying and has a major impact on how we should actively strive for good air quality to prevent common and serious diseases

The World Health Organization will soon announce new air quality guidelines

 Long-term exposure to low-level ambient air pollution and incidence of stroke and coronary heart disease: a pooled analysis of six European cohorts within the ELAPSE project

DOI

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