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THURSDAY, Feb. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Inhaling fine particle air pollution, at least during warm weather, may increase people's risk for stroke, Finnish researchers report.
Earlier research has linked air pollution with heart attack, but this is the first study to look at ultra-fine particle air pollution and stroke.
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"We evaluated the effects of these and other particle sizes on stroke to
help determine the most harmful particle sources in the air," study author Jaana
Kettunen, a researcher for the National Public Health Institute in Kuopio, said in a prepared statement.
The report is published in the March issue of Stroke.
Fine particle pollution is made up of tiny particles of dust and soot, less than 2.5 microns, about 1/30th the width of a human hair. They mostly come from car exhaust, power plant emissions and burning of fossil fuels. Ultra-fine particles are less than 0.1 microns and are usually found in car exhaust.
In the study, Kettunen's team looked at air pollution data, as well as data on people aged 65 and older who died from stroke in Helsinki from 1998 to 2004. They analyzed both warm and cold months.
"We found that, during the warm season, there was a positive association between stroke mortality among the elderly and current-day level of fine particles," Kettunen said in a statement. "There was a 6.9 percent increase in stroke death for every 6 micrograms per cubic meter of air increase in fine particles. In addition, there was 7.4 percent increase in stroke mortality for every 6 micrograms per cubic meter of air increase of previous-day fine particle levels," she said.
This seemed to be a warm-weather phenomenon, however: There was no association in the cold season with stroke and fine particles, ultra-fine particles or carbon monoxide, the researchers reported.
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