TOPSHOT – People walk along a road near India Gate amid heavy smog in New Delhi on February 22, … [+]
Harmful air quality affects everyone. But some people are more vulnerable to the health impacts of air pollution than others. One group is people with heart disease. Breathing in tiny microscopic air pollutants damages blood vessels over a period of time and makes them narrower and harder. It also puts a huge strain on the heart muscle as it works overtime to supply oxygen. A recent study provided more evidence of how people with heart disease—and more specifically, heart failure—are extremely vulnerable to inflammation caused by air pollution.
Researchers found that when heart failure patients are exposed to air pollution, they experience inflammation in two biomarkers: CCL27 (CC motif ligand chemokine 27) and IL-18 (interleukin 18). However, no changes in these biomarkers occurred in people without heart disease.
“These biomarkers were elevated in response to air pollution in people who already had heart disease, but not in patients who were without heart disease, indicating that patients with heart failure are less able to adapt to changes in the environment. ,” said Benjamin Horne, principal. study investigator and research professor at Intermountain Health, in a press release.
“It is important that individuals with known heart disease, including those diagnosed with heart failure, should be especially careful during periods of poor air quality. This includes exercising indoors, making sure they take their prescribed medications and avoiding areas like roads and highways where there is a lot more traffic and pollution,” added Horne.
Horne and team analyzed blood and other biological samples from 44 patients with heart failure and 35 people without heart disease. They took blood from study participants on days when there were lower levels of air pollution. They defined low air pollution as levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air below 7 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3). The researchers also collected blood samples of study participants on days when PM2.5 levels reached 20 µg/m3 or more. Air pollution levels increased mainly during wildfire events that occurred during the summer and on cold days when air pollutants tend to be trapped in the lower atmosphere as warm plumes push pollutants closer to the ground.
After the researchers collected multiple blood samples at different times of the year, they studied 115 proteins present in human blood that indicate elevated inflammation in the body.
“These findings give us some information about the mechanisms in people with heart failure that have inflammation and suggest that they are not as capable of responding to acute inflammation as people who are healthy,” Horne explained further in the release. for press.
The study findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s 2024 Scientific Sessions International conference in Chicago on November 16, 2024.
Epidemiologists estimate that the global prevalence of heart failure is over 64 million cases as of 2020. “The most frequent causes of heart failure are ischemic heart disease (42.3% of all cases), followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( 37.0%), mitral valve diseases (4.3%), aortic valve diseases (3.4%), rheumatic heart diseases (3.0%), myocarditis (2.6%) and endocarditis (1.4%)”, write the researchers in a study published in AME Medical Journal.