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Air pollution raises stroke risks

02/17/12

According to researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, air pollution increases the risk of strokes by 34 percent.

The study found that even at moderate levels considered safe by federal regulations, air pollution can cause fatal health problems.

Researchers studied more than 1,700 stroke patients in the Boston area over a 10-year period, finding that exposure to moderate air pollution, which was mostly from vehicle traffic, led to higher risks of ischemic strokes on days when the EPA's air quality index for particulate matter was yellow instead of green.

"The link between increased stroke risk and these particulates can be observed within hours of exposure and are most strongly associated with pollution from local or transported traffic emissions," said Dr. Murray Mittleman, the study's senior author, a physician in the CardioVascular Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Any proposed changes in regulated pollution levels must consider the impact of lower levels on public health."

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 140,000 people die from strokes in the United States every year, which might lead some to secure a life insurance policy to prepare for any future health costs.

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