Researchers say breathing in polluted air does more than damage the lungs; it harms the heart, too.

Air pollution levels do not need to be very high to cause harm, researchers report in the Aug. 25 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Air pollution — even at levels deemed “acceptable” by the Environmental Protection Agency — leads to short- and long-term injury to the heart and blood vessels, increases rates of heart disease-related hospitalizations, and can even cause death.

“There doesn’t have to be an environmental catastrophe for air pollution to cause injury,” Boris Z. Simkhovich, MD, PhD, a senior research associate at the Heart Institute of the Good Samaritan Hospital and an assistant professor of research medicine at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, says in a news release. “We’re talking about very modest increases. Air pollution can be dangerous at levels that are within the accepted air quality standards.” [Read more...]