Air and noise pollution increase the risk of heart attacks, raising the likelihood that susceptible people will suffer severe cardiological problems, according to new research presented Wednesday.
Continued exposure to noise boosted the risk of a heart attack 140 percent, while air pollution led to more hospitalisations for people who had previously had heart attacks, according to two separate studies presented at a congress by the European Society of Cardiology in the southern city of Munich.
"There was a direct relationship between the degree of air pollution and the frequency of illnesses," said Stephanie von Klot of the GFS environment and health research centre in the southern German town of Neuherberg.
"You see the increased risk (of heart attacks) even below the current legal limits (for air pollution)," added the GSF project director Annette Peters.
A slight rise in diesel exhaust in the air led to a 2.5 percent increase in hospitalisations.
The findings were based on a EU-backed study of 22,000 heart patients in the European cities of Augsburg, Barcelona, Helsinki, Rome and Stockholm.
Noise pollution, meanwhile, was found to send stress hormone levels soaring, affecting blood pressure and blood lipid concentration, according to a study by the Charite University Clinic in Berlin.
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