Taking a Stand Against Air Pollution-The Impact on Cardiovascular Disease: A Joint Opinion from the World Heart Federation, American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, and the European Society of Cardiology

Michael Brauer, Barbara Casadei, Robert A Harrington, Richard Kovacs, Karen Sliwa, WHF Air Pollution Expert Group, Michael Brauer, Narantuya Davaakhuu, Michael Hadley, Daniel Kass, Mark Miller, Maria Consuelo Escamilla Nuñez, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Ta-Chen Su, Ilonca C H Vaartjes, Rajesh Vedanthan, Michael Brauer, Barbara Casadei, Robert A Harrington, Richard Kovacs, Karen Sliwa, WHF Air Pollution Expert Group, Michael Brauer, Narantuya Davaakhuu, Michael Hadley, Daniel Kass, Mark Miller, Maria Consuelo Escamilla Nuñez, Dorairaj Prabhakaran, Ta-Chen Su, Ilonca C H Vaartjes, Rajesh Vedanthan

Abstract

Although the attention of the world and the global health community specifically is deservedly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, other determinants of health continue to have large impacts and may also interact with COVID-19. Air pollution is one crucial example. Established evidence from other respiratory viruses and emerging evidence for COVID-19 specifically indicates that air pollution alters respiratory defense mechanisms leading to worsened infection severity. Air pollution also contributes to co-morbidities that are known to worsen outcomes amongst those infected with COVID-19, and air pollution may also enhance infection transmission due to its impact on more frequent coughing. Yet despite the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reasons for optimism: broad societal lockdowns have shown us a glimpse of what a future with strong air pollution measures could yield. Thus, the urgency to combat air pollution is not diminished, but instead heightened in the context of the pandemic.

Keywords: CVD; air pollution; cardiovascular disease; climate; environmental health impacts.

Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Ranking of Air Pollution Relative to Other Leading Risk Factors for Global Mortality Mortality Risk Factors, Both sexes, all ages, 2019. Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. (Adapted from Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2020).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Biological Pathways Linking Air Pollution With Cardiovascular Disease Mechanisms of cardiovascular disease attributable to air pollution exposures. (Adapted from Rajesh Vedanthan and Michael Hadley, 2019).

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Source: PubMed

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