Pollution in exhaust fumes and living near noisy roads may raise blood pressure

Friday 11th September 2009 New Delhi: According to a study published in the journal Hypertension, sitting in traffic "can raise your blood pressure and put your heart at risk...by exposing you to the pollution in exhaust fumes", said Dr KK Aggarwal President, Heart Care Foundation of India, MTNL Perfect Heart Mela and Director, IMA AKN Sinha Institute. The forthcoming MTNL Perfect Health Mela will have a special focus on high blood pressure.

Doctors from the University of Michigan "measured the effect of air pollution in healthy people in two cities, Ann Arbor, and Toronto, where participants were exposed in the lab to the same amount of particulates and ozone that would be found near a local highway."

They discovered that "people who breathed in polluted air registered higher blood-pressure readings a short time after exposure, compared with those who breathed filtered air, and their blood vessels showed impairment as long as 24 hours         later."

Another study published in the journal Environmental Health, indicates people living near noisy roads may have increased    risk    for     hypertension.

As per the study "people living near noisy roads are at greater risk of developing high blood pressure."

Doctors from Sweden's Lund University analyzed data from "questionnaires completed by nearly 28,000 people," and also analyzed traffic noise. They discovered that "at above 60 decibels, the risk of high blood pressure rose by more than 25 percent." And, "above 64 decibels, the risk rose by more than 90 percent, although the team cautioned that the low numbers in this group could have skewed the findings."

"The risk of hypertension was highest in relatively young or middle-aged people, whereas no effects were seen in the oldest age   group."