Study Links Traffic and Heart Attacks

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2004-11-9

This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Health Report.

Researchers say people traveling in traffic are three times more
likely to suffer a heart attack whether driving in a car, riding a
bus or bicycling. They say the risk of a heart attack is greatest
within an hour of being in traffic. Researchers believe the main
reason is polluted air.

The findings are based on a German study of almost seven hundred
people who suffered heart attacks. The patients described their
activities during the four days before their heart attack.
Researchers found that those who had been in traffic were three
times more likely to have a heart attack within one hour, compared
to those who had not been in traffic.

Most of those in the study had been traveling by car. But some
had been on bicycles and others were on buses. Women, people over
the age of sixty and those already at risk for heart problems were
most at risk.

Research shows that people in cars and buses are exposed to ten
times the amount of pollutants as people walking on the street. That
is largely because they breathe in the particles and gasses released
from the vehicles in front of them.

Over time, these small particles speed the buildup of a sticky
substance in the blood. This can cause blockages to form in the
arteries around the heart and lead to a heart attack.

Earlier studies have linked traffic, air pollution and heart
disease. They found that people who live near major roads are at
greater risk of dying from heart and lung problems.

Other studies have also linked heart trouble to stress, similar
to the kind that people face while driving in heavy traffic. But the
researchers of the latest study say they do not know whether the
increased heart attack risk was the result of stress or pollution.
They suggest it may be a combination of stress, noise and pollution.

The study found that traffic was linked to eight percent of heart
attacks. But experts note that the overall risk of having a heart
attack after being in traffic is still very low.

Annette Peters led the research. She is with the National
Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, Germany.
She said the research shows the need for cleaner vehicles and better
city planning.

The research was done from nineteen ninety-nine to two thousand
one. The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Cynthia
Kirk. This is Gwen Outen.


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