According to a new study, air pollution damages not only your lungs, but it can be dangerous for your heart too. There are microscopic particles in polluted air, which can adversely affect your heart. These particles can interrupt the progress of electrical signals which are conducted by the heart.

The researchers of Harvard University conducted the study on 48 patients from Boston. All the patients had coronary artery disease. To examine the electrocardiograms of the participants, researchers used 24-hour Holter monitors. ST- segment depression is an indicator for inadequate blood flow to the heart or inflamed heart muscles. 

Usually we found the polluted air in traffic jams. It contains very high pollutant level. A particular pollutant with this level called as PM 2.5 and black carbon, a marker for traffic predicted ST-segment depression, generally we found in heavy vehicular traffic exhaust along with sulphur dioxide.

The study’s senior author Diane R Gold said, “Effects were greatest within the first month after hospitalization, and for patients who were hospitalized for a heart attack or had diabetes’s.”

The study found that road traffic can trigger heart attacks and the particulate air pollution can raise the risk of heart attack.