Breathing polluted air may lead to irregular heartbeats among healthy teens, a study has found. This condition of skipped heartbeats may continue to exist even when the pollution level subsides and returns within acceptable limit.
The irregular heartbeats may lead to sudden cardiac arrest in healthy teens and young adults. Fine particulates, less than 2.5 microns in size, are easily inhaled and seep deep into the lungs.
These particles, eventually, also enter the bloodstream. The inclusion can lead to irritation in the lungs and the blood vessels around the heart. Subsequently, this irritation may convert to cardiovascular diseases.
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“Our findings linking air pollution to irregular heart rhythms suggest that particulate matter may contribute to the risk of sudden cardiac death among youth,” said Fan He, the lead author of the study.
He added, “Since childhood and adolescent cardiovascular conditions can track into adulthood and affect risk of major cardiovascular disease later in life, identifying modifiable risk factors of cardiac arrhythmia that may cause sudden cardiac death among adolescents should be of great public interest.”
To come to conclusions of the study published in Journal of American Health Association, the team of researchers analysed the exposure of 322 teenagers to the fine particulate matter in polluted air for a period of 24 hours between 2010 and 2013.
The average age of the teens was 17 and all the participants were free from any major cardiovascular conditions. In addition to this, they also measured the electrocardiogram tracings using a device called Holter monitors.
In the analysis, the researchers found that 79 percent of the participants had at least one irregular heart rhythm episode in the 24-hour period.
"It is alarming that we were able to observe such a significant impact of air pollution on cardiac arrhythmias when the air quality remained well within the health-based standards established by the EPA. It may suggest that adolescents who live in highly polluted areas" are at even higher risk,” Ha said.
The research focused on various protective measures that young adults living in polluted areas can adopt to reduce the chances of irregular heart rhythms, and eventually, the risk of contracting a cardiovascular disease.
