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Reduced air pollution resulting from lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic is reportedly linked to a lower incidence of heart attacks.
According to Medical News Today, a new unpublished study from scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) used the National Emergency Medical Service Information System database to determine the daily incidence of STEMIs – or ST-elevation myocardial infarctions, the most severe form of heart attack – between Jan. 1, 2019, and April 30, 2020.
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The researchers also found the average daily concentrations of PM2.5 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
PM2.5, or particulate matter under 2.5 micrometers in diameter, are released through wildfires and the burning of climate change-causing fossil fuels.
High airborne concentrations of PM2.5 are established risk factors for STEMIs.
There were 60,722 STEMIs in total during the examined time period and the researchers found that for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter reduction in PM2.5 concentration, there were 6% fewer STEMIs.
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The findings will be presented at the American Heart Association's (AHA) virtual conference this month.
"This study highlights the importance of reducing air pollution, which could, in turn, prevent heart attacks," Sidney Aung, a fourth-year medical student at UCSF, told the publication.
"We also hope our study may influence other investigators to pursue similar research to corroborate these results or to investigate other forms of air pollutants outside of [PM2.5] that may have also declined during the pandemic lockdowns," Aung said.
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Aung noted that other factors could have contributed to the reduced incidence of heart attacks during lockdowns, like staying indoors and reduced stress.
"However, given the previous studies that have linked increased PM2.5 to increased heart attacks, we believe that a reduction in [PM2.5] likely plays a large component in the observed reduction of heart attacks in our study," Aung said.
According to the CDC, estimates that assume no change in regulatory controls or population characteristics have ranged from 1,000 to 4,300 additional premature deaths nationally per year by 2050 from combined ozone and particle health effects.
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