Arrythmia may lead the heart to beat too quickly, too slowly or with an irregular rhythm. The common arrhythmia conditions atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter, which can progress to more serious heart disease. Arrythmia have affected an estimate of 59.7 million people globally. Air pollution is one of the major causes of heart disease.
According to recent research, it is found that acute exposure to air pollution is associated with an increased risk of symptomatic arrhythmia. The risk of heart disease occurs during the initial hours after exposure that persist for 24 hours.
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The research included 190115 patients with acute risk of symptomatic arrythmia, including atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, premature beats, and supraventricular tachycardia.
It is to be noted that exposure to ambient air pollution was associated with atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia, followed by atrial fibrillation and premature beats. Among the six pollutants, nitrogen dioxide has the strongest association with atrial flutter and supraventricular tachycardia which is followed by atrial fibrillation and premature beats.
Moreover, among the six pollutants, nitrogen oxide had the strongest association with all 4 types of arrhythmias, and the greater the exposure, the stronger the association. The association between air pollution and acute onset of arrhythmia that we observed is biologically plausible. There are also certain indications that show that air pollution can cause cardiac electrophysiological activities through oxidative stress and systemic inflammation. It also affects multiple membrane channels, as well as damages autonomic nervous function.
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