Environmental toxins linked to rate of CV death; lead in US, air pollution in UK
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CHICAGO — In the U.S. and U.K., exposure to environmental factors such as lead and ambient particulate matter may correlate to increased CV death, according to a 30-year analysis of mortality data.
Uniquely, CV-related death was more common among populations with lead exposure in the U.S. compared with the U.K., whereas CV-related death was more common in particulate matter-exposed populations in the U.K., according to data presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.
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“Upon analyzing nearly 92 million [deaths] from population data obtained from Global Burden of Disease 2019 study, it was found that the CV mortality attributable to particulate matter was higher in Great Britain as compared with the United States,” Anoop Titus, MD, third-year internal medicine resident at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, told Healio. “The opposite was true for lead exposure, with CV mortality attributed to lead being higher in the United States as compared with Great Britain. Mortality trends were similar for smoking and secondhand smoke in both the regions.”
Using the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study, Titus and colleagues evaluated more than 91 million deaths that occurred between 1990 and 2019 in the U.S. and U.K., of which more than 33 million were CV-related, and compared them based on environmental exposures to lead, secondhand smoke, particulate matter pollution and smoking.
Titus said that the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study assessed ambient particulate matter smaller than 2.5 m for the air pollution exposure, and lead exposure was identified using blood lead level data.
There was no significant difference between the U.S. and U.K. among CV deaths for exposure to smoking (P = .19) and secondhand smoke (P = .349), according to the study.
“Notably, smoking remained the highest contributor for CV mortality among the four studied risk factors in our study throughout the 30-year study period,” Titus told Healio.
The researchers found that lead exposure was more commonly attributed to CV deaths in the U.S. compared with the U.K. (RR = 0.024 vs. 0.014; P < .001), whereas particulate matter exposure-related CV death was more common in the U.K. compared with the U.S. (RR = 0.065 vs. 0.05; P = .001).
Moreover, researchers saw a declining trend over 30 years in both the U.S. and U.K. for CV-related deaths with any of the associated environmental risk factors.
“These findings suggest the need for alternative explanations for the noted elevated risk attributable cardiovascular deaths. Improved legislation, health policy initiatives, policy implementation and initiatives at the primary level of care are measures that can serve to be starting points to begin exposure reduction and consequent mortality,” Titus told Healio. “Currently, our team is working to identify the policies, legislations and historical events that may have contributed to significant changes in the declining trends over the past 30 years”
Reference:
- 30 years of data: Lead and other environmental toxins linked to CVD deaths in U.S., United Kingdom. newsroom.heart.org/news/30-years-of-data-lead-and-other-environmental-toxins-linked-to-cvd-deaths-in-u-s-united-kingdom. Published Oct. 31, 2022. Accessed Nov. 9, 2022.
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Titus A, et al. Abstract SU3119. Presented at: American Heart Association Scientific Sessions; Nov. 5-7, 2022; Chicago (hybrid meeting).
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