“Reducing pollution is not only helpful for the environment it may also have significant health benefits at the population level such as preventing heart attacks,” said lead author Sidney Aung, a fourth-year medical student at the University of California.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US and previous research has shown that environmental conditions such as air pollution can increase the risk of it occurring. In 2017, exposure to particulate air pollution was estimated to be associated with more than seven million premature deaths and the loss of 147 million healthy life-years globally.
Across the period analysed in this study (Jan 2019-April 2020), the number of severe heart attacks dropped substantially in association with declining ambient pollution levels.
According to an international analysis, IQ Air’s 2020 World Air Quality Report, global lockdown measures to slow the spread of Covid-19 resulted in healthier air around the...