A recent study looks at how too much exposure to traffic pollution can potentially alter the structure and function of the heart.

In fact, heavy amounts of traffic-related air pollution may cause a change in the right ventricle, which could increase the risk of heart disease, as other previous studies have shown.

"Although the link between traffic-related air pollution and left ventricular hypertrophy, heart failure, and cardiovascular death is established, the effects of traffic-related air pollution on the right ventricle have not been well studied," said lead study author Peter Leary, MD, MS, of the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, via a press release. "Using exposure to nitrogen dioxide as a surrogate for exposure to traffic-related air pollution, we were able to demonstrate for the first time that higher levels of exposure were associated with greater right ventricular mass and larger right ventricular end-diastolic volume. Greater right ventricular mass is also associated with increased risk for heart failure and cardiovascular death."

For the study, researchers looked at 3,896 participants who were free of cardiovascular disease via the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. All participants underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), showing that increased exposure to nitrogen dioxide could cause an increase in the right ventricular mass as well as the right ventricular end-diastolic volume.

"The morphologic changes in the right ventricle of the heart that we found with increased exposure to nitrogen dioxide add to the body of evidence supporting a connection between traffic-related air pollution and cardiovascular disease," concluded Leary. "The many adverse effects of air pollution on human health support continued efforts to reduce this burden."

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More information regarding the study can be found via the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.