Air pollution suffocates the vessels of the heart and can cause heart attacks even in those with healthy coronary arteries, that is, without atherosclerosis plaques, increasing up to 11 volte the risk of ischemia in those most exposed to fine particles. To demonstrate, for the first time, that polluted air can cause a prolonged spasm of the vessels that nourish the heart muscle, damaging even the ‘clean’ ones, is a study by the Gemelli Irccs Polyclinic Foundation and Catholic University of Rome, presented at the congress of the European Society of Cardiology (Esc) in Barcelona and published in the ‘Journal of the American College of Cardiology’.
The research, signed Rocco Antonio Montone and Filippo Creastudied the risk of ‘polluted air infarction’ in those most exposed to PM2.5, produced above all by vehicle exhaust gases, showing that it causes a spasm of the coronary arteries that ‘cuts’ the flow of blood to the myocardium, determining the death of the heart muscle due to ‘throttling’ of the vessels.
“We studied the phenomenon – explains Dr. Montone, medical director at the Cardiological Intensive Care Unit of Gemelli – on 287 patients, of which 56% were affected by chronic myocardial ischemia in the presence not characterized by atherosclerosis plaques, while the 44% had even had a heart attack with healthy coronaries. Their exposure to polluted air was determined by home. All underwent coronary angiography, during which a ‘provocative’ acetylcholine test was performed, which it was positive in 61%. Positivity was much more frequent in patients exposed to polluted air “. “In light of the results – concludes Professor Crea, full professor of Cardiovascular Diseases at Cattolica – limiting exposure to pollution could reduce the risk of cardiovascular events”. (HANDLE).
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