Heavy air pollution in the city is causing not just respiratory problems, but also resulting in an increased risk of people developing heart diseases.
Doctors at the State-run Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences are seeing a considerable number of construction workers and labourers from industrial plants apart from slum-dwellers and traffic policemen with heart ailments. They say persons from these categories are constantly exposed to particulate matter and dust.
Institute director C.N. Manjunath said that nearly 20 per cent of the 1,200 outpatients the hospital gets daily are from these categories. “Particulate matter and emission of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide that originate predominantly from the combustion of fossil fuels such as emissions from industrial plants and vehicles are the main culprits. People who are constantly exposed to this form of pollution are the worst hit,” he said
A study presented in August at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress 2015 in London, apart from other research papers, including one in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, corroborate this. The studies pointed out that air pollution had become a recognised risk factor for heart failure, Dr. Manjunath said.
S.S. Ramesh, cardiologist and chairman, Vivus Heart Centre, said there is a higher incidence of people who are exposed to dust and pollution reporting heart problems.
The cause
Pollution causes change in blood and result in the formation of plaque in the arteries. Following chronic exposure, dust gets deposited in the lungs and narrows the blood vessels thereby increasing pressure in the lung. This in turn, causes changes in the heart rhythm, the doctors explained.
