City centre residents ‘twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery calcification’

A recent study has found that city centre residents are almost twice as likely to suffer from coronary artery calcification (CAC), which is known to lead to heart disease, than people who live around less pollution.

The research has been published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, and revealed that out of the 1,225 men and women aged 50 to 60 that they spoke to, there was a significant difference in the level of CAC between those living in polluted cities and those living in less polluted rural areas.

Additionally, they found that those living in urban areas were 80 per cent more likely to develop CAC than those living elsewhere, with diabetics and smokers also facing higher risks.

Lead author Dr Jess Lambrechtsen from the Department of Cardiology at Svendborg Hospital, Denmark said: “Our study aimed to evaluate the association between living in a city centre, which is often used by researchers to indicate exposure to air pollution, and the presence of coronary artery calcification in men and women showing no other symptoms of heart disease.”

The key findings from the study showed that men were more than three times as likely as women to develop CAC, with a 220 per cent higher odds risk. Additionally, 60-year-olds were approximately twice as likely to develop CAC as 50-year-olds (120 per cent higher), and smokers were 90 per cent more likely to develop it than non-smokers.

Posted by Claire Manning.