News Items

News Item - February 2007

"Fine particulate air pollution poses heart risk for postmenopausal women."

In a recently published study in The New England Journal of Medicine " Cardiovascular Risks from Fine Particulate Air Pollution" by Douglas W. Dockery, Sc.D., and Peter H. Stone, research has shown that postmenopausal women exposed to long term fine particulate air pollution PM2.5 (2.5 micron in diameter) are at increased risk of a cardiovascular event and death from coronary heart disease.

A long term study of 65,893 subjects aged between 50 to 79 from the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study in the US provided researchers an opportunity to study the effect of air pollution on the risk for cardiovascular disease.

The study found "that for each increase of 10 micrograms of fine particulate matter per cubic meter was associated with a 24 percent increase in the risk of a cardiovascular event and a 76 percent increase in the risk of death from cardiovascular disease."

In Sydney " The major source of particle pollution is industry (47%), although it should be noted that in winter, the contribution of solid fuel heaters to particle pollution is significant, at up to 50% on some winter weekends. Mobile sources, particularly diesel motor vehicles, contribute to just under 20% of particles in Sydney. Other sources include ... open burning such as bushfires and backyard burning. High levels of particle pollution are recorded during extreme weather conditions such as bushfires and dust storms."1

• Read a Medline Press release   pub. Jan.31st 2007.
  
  
• Read the Full Article.   pub. Feb. 1st 2007.