High pollution levels linked to increase in heart attack risk
High levels of pollution could increase the risk of having a heart attack for up to six hours after exposure, finds research published online in the British Medical Journal. However, the researchers found no increased risk after the six hour time frame. Given the transient nature of the increased risk, they speculate that the heart attack would have happened anyway and was merely brought forward by a few hours. This is known as a short-term displacement (or "harvesting") effect of pollution. While established...