Taking a Stand Against Air Pollution—The Impact on Cardiovascular Disease

• Published in: Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2021-04, Vol.77 (13), p.1684-1688
• Main Authors: Brauer, Michael, Casadei, Barbara, Harrington, Robert A., Kovacs, Richard, Sliwa, Karen, Davaakhuu, Narantuya, Hadley, Michael, Kass, Daniel, Miller, Mark, Consuelo Escamilla Nuñez, Maria, Prabhakaran, Dorairaj, Su, Ta-Chen, Vaartjes, Ilonca C.H., Vedanthan, Rajesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: air pollution; cardiovascular disease; climate; CVD; environmental health impacts
• ISSN: 0735-1097; 1558-3597
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2020.12.003

Although the attention of the world and the global health community specifically is deservedly focused on the COVID-19 pandemic, other determinants of health continue to have large impacts and may also interact with COVID-19. Air pollution is one crucial example. Established evidence from other respiratory viruses and emerging evidence for COVID-19 specifically indicates that air pollution alters respiratory defense mechanisms leading to worsened infection severity. Air pollution also contributes to co-morbidities that are known to worsen outcomes amongst those infected with COVID-19, and air pollution may also enhance infection transmission due to its impact on more frequent coughing. Yet despite the massive disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reasons for optimism: broad societal lockdowns have shown us a glimpse of what a future with strong air pollution measures could yield. Thus, the urgency to combat air pollution is not diminished, but instead heightened in the context of the pandemic.