Delhi’s Air Pollution can Trigger Irreversible Damage to Heart

Air pollution in Delhi has worsened in the past few months. Delhi is fighting with the hazardous air pollution due to the rise in vehicle population. Vehicles emitting toxic particulate matter (PM) are cited as the primary pollutant especially during winter.

A study conducted by University of Surrey has found that New Delhi suffers from a "toxic blend of geography, growth, poor energy sources and unfavorable weather that boosts its dangerously high levels of air pollution". Pollution has proven to have inflammatory effects on the heart, causing chronic cardiovascular problems.

Delhi Air Pollution Levels Reach to "Hazardous" Category of World Air Quality Index
The national capital recorded high amounts of suspended particulate matter where the average levels of PM 2.5 was 157 and PM 10 was 264.

‘Delhi is infamously cited as the most polluted city in the world, with air pollution causing thousands of excess deaths in a year.’

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The capital is infamously cited as the most polluted city in the world, with air pollution causing thousands of excess deaths in a year. Continues exposure to air pollution is known to have caused cardiovascular illness and mortality.

Pollution particles that are smaller than 2.5 microns are related to fuel combustion. They are so small in nature that they are almost invisible. Such particles enter the human body and cause irritation to the lungs and blood vessels around the heart.

Delhi has turned into a toxic pollutant punchbowl with myriad ingredients and the government is pulling all strings to bring down the levels with the recent one being the odd-even vehicle concept.

Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturer Demands New Study on Air Pollution in Delhi
The demand from SIAM comes after the National Green Tribunal’s order banning 10-year-old diesel vehicles from plying in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

What is all the more spooky are the predictions that the number of road vehicles would increase from 4.7 million in 2010 to nearly 26 million by 2030! While the success of the odd-even formula is uncertain in the mega city with a population of 25.8 million, Delhiites are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping for the best.

It is, hence, important to realize that combination of harmful nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter can disturb the heart rhythm. There is clinical evidence that clearly indicates the deleterious effects of ambient air pollution on health and its relation to heart disease and stroke.

Milan Limits Daytime Traffic to Battle Air Pollution
Drivers in Milan will face a limit on daytime travel three days next week as the northern Italian city tries to bring air pollution down from dangerous levels.

Environmental air pollutants includes carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, ozone, lead and particulate matter and these are associated with increased hospitalization and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, especially in people with congestive heart failure, frequent arrhythmias or both.

Motor vehicles are the main source of carbon monoxide - a odorless, colorless and tasteless gas that binds to hemoglobin with an affinity 250 times that of oxygen, thereby interfering with the systemic delivery of oxygen to tissues. Carbon monoxide can attain concentrations sufficient to physiologically meaningful increases in carboxyhemoglobin in people with cardiac conditions.

Forty Cities in North China Issue Alerts for Air Pollution
Beijing was hit with severe air pollution on Tuesday, with pollution levels expecting to reach grade six on a six-grade pollution gauging system.

Studies show that cities with high nitrogen oxide concentrations had death rates four times higher than those with low nitrogen oxide concentrations. Harmful air pollutants can cause cardiovascular diseases such as artery blockages leading to heart attacks.

A world heath organization (WHO) study points out that 6.2 lakh people in India died due to air pollution related diseases in 2010. More than half the deaths were triggered by heart attacks!

Urban air pollution is directly linked to heart disease. The policymakers need to be educated on the types, sources and effects of the different kinds of particulate matters causing air pollution so that the emissions can be regulated before the irreversible damage to the heart.

Source-IANS