Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New Study: Pollution Triggers More Heart Attacks

Courtesty: Intermountain Medical Center
Members of the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute research team (Donald Lappe, Viet Lu and Kent Meredith) shared the results of their air-pollution study at the American Heart Association's 2015 Scientific Session in Orlando.

New evidence is emerging from the Wasatch Front about the effects of air pollution on health, thanks to researchers at Intermountain Medical Center who studied heart attacks over more than two decades. What they found in the four Wasatch Front counties is that, when concentrations of microscopic soot pollution reach 25 parts per million concentration, the likelihood of suffering what’s called a STEMI heart attack goes up too.

“We do think that the exposure does trigger heart attacks,” says Kent Meredith, a cardiologist at IMC who shared the study’s findings this weekend at an American Heart Association meeting. “And it seems to be around the order of [a] 15 percent increase over that person’s baseline risk of heart attack on any given day.”

The study looked at more than 16,000 patients. It found that pollution didn’t have a significant impact on some types of heart attacks, like unstable angina. But the pollution link played a big role in heart attacks that occur when arteries are so badly clogged that the heart muscle can’t get enough blood. Researchers found these heart attacks rise along with PM 2.5 pollution levels, mostly during winter inversions.

Meredith says his team hopes heart patients, their doctors and policy makers pay attention.

“Unfortunately we’ve had a number of wakeup calls in the last couple of decades, and we’re maybe hitting the snooze button and not responding when we ought to.”

Utah’s air-quality office provides daily forecasts. It also provides hourly monitor readings for people who want to know when they should be limiting outdoor activities because of pollution.

Judy Fahys has reported in Utah for two decades, covering politics, government and business before taking on environmental issues. She loves covering Utah, where petroleum-pipeline spills, the nation’s radioactive legacy and other types of pollution provide endless fodder for stories. Previously, she worked for the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, and reported on the nation’s capital for States News Service and the Scripps League newspaper chain. She is a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She also spent an academic year as a research fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her spare time, she enjoys being out in the environment, especially hiking, gardening and watercolor painting.
KUER is listener-supported public radio. Support this work by making a donation today.