Studies show air pollution to be a new heart attack trigger

New studies show that air quality may be part of the reason for heart troubles, including heart attacks.

A study explains that improving air quality may also decrease the number of heart attacks, especially in areas where air quality is said to be relatively poor.

Published in The Lancet, the study analyzes nearly 15 different triggers of heart attacks.

Heart attack triggers include physical exertion, alcohol use, cocaine, and anger.

Researchers discovered that air pollution, like that from various power plants and automobiles, may the cause of as many heart attacks as stress, alcohol abuse, and extreme physical exertion.

Explaining that air pollution by itself may not play a large role, researchers believe that accounting for other risk factors can largely influence the risks noticed for having a heart attack.

Experts explain that air pollution, while originally thought to be in check, is a growing problem for many communities and needs to be addressed before it becomes a much larger issue.