Pollution and the Heart

ardiovascular diseases are the world's leading cause of disability and death. Such diseases were responsible in 2019 for an estimated 18.6 million deaths globally and 957,000 deaths in the United States. reat gains have been made in reducing the incidence of cardiovascular disease and related mortality in high-income countries. Identification of risk factors such as tobacco use, hypertension, dyslipidemia, physical inactivity, and diabetes in large, prospective, multiyear epidemiologic studies has been key. Recognition of these risk factors has increased awareness of cardiovascular diseases, enhanced early detection, and guided treatment and prevention. These advances have contributed to more than a 50% decline in mortality from cardiovascular disease in the United States since 1950. ollution -unwanted material released into the environment by human activity -is another important yet often overlooked risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Fig. ntil now, pollution reduction has received scant attention in programs for cardiovascular disease control and has been largely absent from guidelines regarding the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, which have focused almost exclusively on individual behavioral and metabolic risk factors. This is an important omission, since incorporation of pollution reduction into cardiovascular disease prevention could save millions of lives.