We all know air pollution was bad... but heart attack causing, yikes!
Inhaling air pollution over just two hours
caused a significant increase in diastolic blood pressure, the lower
number on blood pressure readings, according to new UM research.
The study findings appear in the current issue of Hypertension, a publication of the American Heart Association.
Nearly one in three Americans suffer from hypertension, a
significant health problem that can lead to heart attack, heart
failure, stroke, and other life-threatening problems.
"Although this increase in diastolic blood pressure may pose little
health risk to healthy people, in people with underlying coronary
artery disease this small increase may actually be able to a trigger
heart attack or stroke," says Robert D. Brook, M.D., lead author and
vascular medicine physician at the UM Cardiovascular Center.