瑞典Karolinska研究院發表的最新論文指出：暴露于空氣污染物中會增加致命的心臟病發作的危險。

Karolinska的研究員Mats Rosenlund博士，研究了外部環境中可能會導致心臟病發作的一些因素，包括空氣污染、被動吸煙、噪音污染以及飲用水中的化學物質。

Rosenlund博士關于空氣污染與心血管疾病之間關系的試驗研究提示：長期暴露于周圍空氣污染物增加了致命的心臟病發作的危險，尤其是在醫院之外。這種關聯在由汽車交通所導致的空氣污染物的環境中尤其明顯，盡管對非致命的心臟病發作危險沒有影響。為了得到污染資料，每一位受試者的家庭地址被轉換為地理坐標，然后與自從1950年之后的所有已知來源的污染物釋放的資料進行交叉驗證。

Rosenlund博士對被動吸煙的研究顯示：被動吸煙并不會增加心臟病發作的危險。這些研究結果提示：暴露于家庭和工作環境污染物顯著增加心臟病發作的危險。這篇論文還涵蓋了先前關于高血壓與飛機噪音之間存在相關性的資料，但是，該項研究對飲用水硬度的結果顯示：沒有證據提示飲用水硬度或者鎂離子或者鈣離子含量對心臟病發作有何影響。
 
Air Pollution Increases Heart Attack Risk
 
Exposure to air pollutants increases the risk of a fatal heart attack, according to a new thesis published by the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden).

A Karolinska researcher, Mats Rosenlund, Ph.D., explored a number of factors in the external environment thought to contribute to the risk of cardiovascular disease, including air pollution, passive smoking, noise pollution, and the chemical composition of drinking water.

Dr. Rosenlund’s study of the relationship between air pollution and cardiovascular disease suggests that a prolonged exposure to ambient air pollutants increases the risk of a fatal heart attack, especially outside the hospital. This relationship was found to be particularly true for airborne pollutants caused by motor traffic, although there was no influence on the risk of suffering an incapacitating or nonfatal heart attack. To obtain the pollution data, each subject’s home address was converted to geographic coordinates, which were then cross-referenced with data on all known sources of pollutant emission since 1950.

Dr. Rosenlund’s studies on passive smoking show that passive smoking does increase the risk of a heart attack. The results suggest that the combined exposure at home and at work contributes significantly to the risk of having a heart attack. The thesis also included previous findings that a correlation exists between hypertension and aircraft noise, However, the study on the hardness of drinking water showed no evidence that the hardness or the magnesium or calcium content has any effect on the risk of a heart attack.