Effects of Air Pollution on the Autonomic Cardiac Modulation: A Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction:The main cause of death in the world is cardiovascular diseases and among the different risk factors, we can mention air pollution. Objectives: Describe the findings on the effects of air pollution on the autonomic cardiac modulation.Methods: The research was conducted using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and SciELO, over the term from 1996 to 2016. Manuscripts written in Portuguese or English, with keywords environmental pollution; air pollution; cardiovascular system; autonomic nervous system, texts dealing with environmental pollution and its relation to human exposition and original papers with the full text available on line were included. Results:The electronic search in databases resulted in 194 articles which were filtered according to gratuity full text delimited topic as well as the couple eliminated, resulting in 25 articles. Of these articles, 12 articles were included that specifically addressed the autonomic cardiac modulation. These remaining items were analyzed in Microsoft Office Excel 2010 program. Conclusion:The effects of air pollution on autonomic cardiac modulation are, in short, a reduction in autonomic cardiac modulation facing air pollution and its increases.