PM Air Pollution and Carotid Artery stenosis

Particulate Air Pollution and Carotid Artery Stenosis

Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 65, Issue 11, 24 March 2015, Pages 1150-1151

doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2014.12.052

Outdoor fine particulate air pollution (mass concentration of particles <2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5]) exposure is ubiquitous and is associated with cardiovascular mortality and ischemic heart disease events (1). PM2.5 exposure also increases the risk for ischemic stroke (2). The vascular and hemodynamic effects of PM2.5 may explain some, but not all, of this increased risk (2). However, it is unknown whether PM2.5 is associated with prevalent clinical atherosclerosis, such as carotid artery stenosis (CAS), a lesion critical to the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke (3). To achieve this objective, we examined PM2.5 and prevalent CAS among more than 300,000 residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

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