This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Johnson, R. L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Johnson, R. L., Jr Related Collections Other Research Related Article

(Circulation. 2004;109:5-7.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Focused Perspectives

Relative Effects of Air Pollution on Lungs and Heart

Robert L. Johnson, Jr, MD

From the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Tex.

Correspondence to Robert L. Johnson, Jr, MD, Professor of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-9034. E-mail Robert.Johnson@UTSouthwestern.edu

Key Words: Focused Perspectives • mortality • smoking • respiration • air pollution

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
IIt has been assumed that damage from exposure to tobacco smoke and other particulate air pollutants is imposed primarily on the lungs and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality rates in patients with preexisting lung disease. This is supported by a considerable amount of previous data, such as the mortality data from the December 1952 London smog disaster, which may have caused as many as 12 000 deaths, almost all in patients with preexisting lung disease.¹ Total suspended particulate matter (PM) was as high as 3000 µg/m³. Similar patterns of elevated morbidity and mortality rates, primarily in patients with preexisting lung disease, have been documented in other acute episodes of air pollution in the past.² However, evidence from the past 10 years shows that sudden increases in ambient air pollution can also rapidly raise morbidity and mortality rates in patients with existing cardiovascular disease, as much or more than the rise associated with lung disease. In the present issue of Circulation, Pope and associates³ report interesting new data on the effects on mortality rate of long-term differences, as opposed to sudden transient increases, in levels of air pollution. Data were derived from a large, comprehensive study initiated by the American Cancer Society and linked to cancer prevention. The study involved a large population of subjects enrolled in 1982 from metropolitan centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Vital status of participants was collected every 2 years for the subsequent 16 years, and a cause of death . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Cardiovascular Mortality and Long-Term Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution: Epidemiological Evidence of General Pathophysiological Pathways of Disease

C. Arden Pope, III, Richard T. Burnett, George D. Thurston, Michael J. Thun, Eugenia E. Calle, Daniel Krewski, and John J. Godleski
Circulation 2004 109: 71-77. [Abstract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Nemmar, B. Nemery, P. H. M. Hoet, N. Van Rooijen, and M. F. Hoylaerts Silica Particles Enhance Peripheral Thrombosis: Key Role of Lung Macrophage-Neutrophil Cross-Talk Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., April 15, 2005; 171(8): 872 - 879. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]