A new study has found that chronic exposure to common air pollutants significantly worsens heart damage in breast cancer patients undergoing standard treatments.
The research provides the most comprehensive evidence yet linking air pollution to dangerous cardiac remodeling and dysfunction in an already vulnerable population.
The longitudinal study followed 580 women with breast cancer who were treated with anthracyclines and/or trastuzumab – chemotherapies known to carry cardiotoxic side effects.
Researchers used sophisticated modeling to estimate each patient’s three-year exposure to PM₂.₅, ozone and other pollutants based on their home addresses. They then correlated these levels with detailed, serial echocardiograms tracking heart structure and function over a median of three years.
Patients living in areas with the highest levels of PM₂.₅ and ozone were found to face more than double the risk of developing significant cardiac dysfunction – defined as a concerning drop in the heart’s pumping ability – compared to those in the least polluted areas.
With each incremental increase in these pollutants, researchers observed measurable declines in heart function, worsened heart strain, and increases in heart mass and size, indicating adverse remodeling.
Significantly, nearly every participant (99.8%) lived in areas where PM₂.₅ levels exceeded the World Health Organization’s recommended safety guideline.
The research concludes: ‘These findings highlight the importance of modifying environmental exposures to mitigate cardiovascular disease risk.’
The study suggests that air pollution exposure creates a state of increased vulnerability, amplifying the damaging effects of necessary cancer drugs on the heart muscle. The pollutants PM₁₀ and nitrogen dioxide did not show the same strong associations with cardiac dysfunction in this cohort.
The research suggests that cleaner air could be a vital component in improving long-term survival and quality of life for cancer survivors and consequently calls for urgent action at personal, clinical and policy levels to reduce air pollution exposure for this at-risk group.
Th full research can be read here.
Photo: National Cancer Institute
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