Coronary artery disease can be termed as “New age plague” afflicting the mankind ! It probably has killed ( or Killing ) as many lives as most other diseases put together. Why only a section of our population is vulnerable is not fully understood .
We are familiar with coronary risk factors for too long . . . still . . .
We do not understand why 50% CAD occur in people who have no known coronary risk factor !
There has been propositions and dispositions of various risk factors . The latest one is the Air pollution. This is quiet interesting, as air is the staple food of human survival . We eat , drink , (Rather inhale ) about 500 ml /of air every 3 to 4 seconds for 24 hours a day for 365 days , for our life time !
Does the air we breath reach the largest cardiovascular organ namely the vascular endothelium ?
Yes definitely , not only it reaches the endothelium but also injures it (When it contains gases other than oxygen ) .While tobacco is a well established endothelium destroyer , it is no surprise community smoking ( Air pollution !) will do the same job with perfection .
What are the proposed toxins in the air pollution that harm the endothelium ?
It is a mixed masala gas out there over our polluted cities ! .(Atmosphere, Industrial, Automative ,Domestic, Human , and other invisible sources ) We need to analyse further to answer this question authentically .
Though , common sense is enough to establish the link between air pollution and CAD. We have lots of evidence coming up . . .
Reference
http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/cgi/reprint/173/4/432?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=coronary&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT
Further research
We will be shortly reporting our experience with endothelial function assessment in traffic police population of our city Chennai ,India .
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Dr.S.Venkatesan MD 