Air pollution has higher heart risks for diabetes women

According to a new US study, women with diabetes
are even more vulnerable than
most people to particle pollution like soot and others like car
exhaust and plant fumes that pose serious health hazard and linked
to the risk of heart disease and
stroke.

According to the lead
author Jaime E. Hart of Brigham
and Women's Hospital and
Harvard Medical School in Boston,
"There is a convincing literature
that long-term air pollution is
associated with a higher risk of
cardiovascular disease. A number of studies of
short-term air pollution
exposures have suggested that
individuals with diabetes are at
higher risk of cardiovascular
disease."

114,537 women were studied a the decades-long
Nurses' Health Study monitoring their data on pollution
exposure and health outcomes.
The result shows that there
were 6,767 cases of
cardiovascular disease, 3,878
cases of coronary heart disease
and 3,295 strokes in the group between 1989 and 2006 .

Though, all women are vulnerable to cardiovascular disease with
increasing exposure to the kind
of tiny pollution particles that
come from engine combustion,
power plants and road dust, the risk increases were
greater for diabetes women since for every additional 10
micrograms of pollution particle
exposure, there was a 19
percent increase in the chance of developing
cardiovascular disease and 23
percent increase in the risk of
having a stroke women with diabetes.

Particles which typically come from
vehicle exhaust and power plants known as PM
2.5 and which are the finest particles, are the most dangerous as they
can enter the bloodstream
after being inhaled.

It was revealed in the
Journal of the American Heart
Association that exposure to an
additional 10 micrograms of PM
2.5 pollution could led to a 44 percent
increase in heart disease and 66
percent increase in stroke risk.

My advice for all men and women, diabetics or non-diabetics is the
same as that of Hart, "I think the recommendations for
women with diabetes would be
similar to advice for all women:
don't smoke cigarettes, eat a
healthy diet, get regular exercise
and, when practical, avoid being
outside in areas of high
pollution."