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Air pollution to affect diabetes patients’ cardiovascular risks

by Medindia Content Team on Jun 2 2005 11:25 AM

Diabetes patients may be at higher risk of cardiovascular disease from the heightened air pollution levels.

The days when air pollutions are at higher levels, there had been more reports of hospitalization of diabetic patients. Research has pointed out that on the days the air contains more pollutant particles, the ability of the blood vessels to control blood flow gets impaired in diabetic people.

Impaired vascular reactions in diabetic patients are known to cause higher rate of hospitalizations and death from cardiovascular problems for diabetic patients.

Researchers have evaluated different kinds of pollutant particles and have found that blood vessel reactions were most hampered by higher concentrations of black carbon and sulfate particles. These are most caused by heavy flow of traffic and power plants that burn heavy amounts of coal. They had used the technique of brachial artery ultrasound to detect the response of the blood vessels of the participant patients.

The researchers feel there is a requirement of more intensive study to find out why diabetic patients are sensitive to air pollutants and how these pollutant particles affect the function of the vascular system of the people suffering from diabetes.

The findings of the research will be published in the new edition of the journal Circulation.


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