ENVIRONMENT: Involved today in 25% of deaths

There are clinical factors such as high blood pressure and diabetes, lifestyle factors such as smoking, but also factors directly related to the living environment such as pollution, which can promote or even trigger a heart attack and/or a cerebrovascular accident (CVA). This new research reveals that exposure to high levels of outdoor air pollution increases the risk of death from all causes by 20%, and the risk of death from cardiovascular causes by 17%.

The study, conducted on the personal health data and environmental data of 50,045 participants, aged over 40, (living in Iran) – followed over more than 15 years, indeed reveals that:

  • environmental factors are those that induce the highest risk of cardiovascular disease and death from all causes;
  • certain heating methods, such as wood or kerosene stoves, the absence of indoor air ventilation can also increase the overall risk of death (by 23% and 9%) and the risk of death from cardiovascular causes (by 36% and 19%);
  • living far from medical centers and/or near busy roads also increases the risk of death; thus, participants who lived further away from clinics and specialized cardiovascular health services, incur an increased risk of death of 1% for each additional distance of 10 kilometers;
  • one-third of study participants living within 500 meters of a major road have a 13% increased risk of death;
  • these “environmental” risk factors are more strongly associated with lower and middle income levels – with urban populations in high-income countries having much greater access to modern healthcare services;
  • however, and at least in this study, low income levels, higher population density, and nighttime light exposure do not appear to be independent risk factors for death.

Thus, factors directly related to the living environment, such as pollution in particular, are major triggers

cardiovascular diseases in particular, underlines the principal author, Dr. Rajesh Vedanthan, cardiologist. These factors should therefore be considered by physicians when assessing risk.

It is difficult to escape pollution and where to live is not always a choice. These “environmental” factors are therefore not easily avoidable. It is therefore up to politicians to reduce the burden of these diseases in their communities by mitigating the impact of environmental risk factors, concludes Dr. Michael Hadley, cardiology researcher and co-author of the study.

The team is currently working on the development of a predictive model which would therefore make it possible, from these environmental factors, to assess the risk of death, or conversely, in the event of a reduction in these “community” factors, to assess the number of years of life gained in good health.

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