Household air pollution linked to higher risk of heart attacks, death

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/aha-hap060916.php

Public Release: 13-Jun-2016
Household air pollution linked to higher risk of heart attacks, death
American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report
American Heart Association

Long-term exposure to household air pollution from lighting, cooking or heating with fuels, such as kerosene or diesel, may increase the risk of heart attacks and death, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation.

Burning cleaner fuels, such as natural gas, was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular deaths.

According to the World Health Organization, one-half of the world's population lives in poverty and burns fuels for lighting, cooking and heating purposes.

"We know that smoking tobacco products and outside air pollution are linked to heart disease death," said Sumeet Mitter, M.D., lead researcher and cardiovascular disease fellow at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. "Our study, using exposure history and time, is the first to find a significant and independent increased risk for all-cause, total cardiovascular disease and heart attack deaths due to increasing lifetime exposures to household air pollution from kerosene or diesel burning."

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