Air pollution, climate changes and cardiovascular diseases: a nightmare threesome!

Excess all-cause mortality during COVID-19 outbreak: potential role of untreated cardiovascular disease

“…Furthermore, the impact of important cardiovascular or clinical risk factors, either impacting individually (eg smoking) or collectively (eg climate or pollution), was not systematically appraised or analyzed. [22][23][24][25] Similarly, analysis of the role of ancillary medical therapy (eg use of dexamethasone) or invasive mechanical support (eg ventricular assist devices or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), which could prove in many cases lifesaving, was beyond our scope. [26][27] Finally, ecological fallacy, regression to the mean and other typical biases impacting on aggregate analyses should not be disregarded.…”

Impact of environmental pollution and weather changes on the incidence of ST-elevation myocardial infarction

“…Weather and environmental pollution represent two atherothrombotic risk factors which impact individuals at large by means of population effect. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Indeed, several studies have highlighted, for instance, how lower temperatures are associated with an increased risk of acute cardiovascular events, ranging from sudden death to unstable angina. [9][10][11][12] Similarly, it is well established how the outdoor concentration of several pollutants, such as fine particulate matter, is associated with cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.…”

Air pollution and cardiovascular risk: is it time to change guidelines?

“…All of these effects can, for instance, increase plaque progression and favour its rupture and coronary instability 6. Even short-term changes in levels of PM 2.5 can impact on cardiovascular events, as poignantly epitomised by recent studies performed in the COVID-19 pandemic: during the lockdown, critical cardiovascular events decreased, in line with the reduction of polluting emissions 7–9…”

“…6 Even short-term changes in levels of PM 2.5 can impact on cardiovascular events, as poignantly epitomised by recent studies performed in the COVID-19 pandemic: during the lockdown, critical cardiovascular events decreased, in line with the reduction of polluting emissions. [7][8][9] The endless war against individual cardiovascular risk factors significantly reduced the burden of cardiovascular diseases, thanks to the identification of patient-level risk factors such as hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, hypertension, smoking and obesity. However, cardiovascular risk factors can also be collective, involving large groups of individuals or even entire populations living in a city, region or nation, such as environmental pollution and weather.…”