Living next to highway can increase cardiac death risk in women

A new study has revealed that living near a major road may increase the risk of dying from sudden cardiac death in women.

Lead author Jaime E. Hart said that it's important for healthcare providers to recognize that environmental exposures may be under-appreciated risk factors for diseases such as sudden cardiac death and fatal coronary heart disease and on a population level, living near a major roadway was as important a risk factor as smoking, diet or obesity.

Researchers, who weren't able to measure all possible risk factors associated with living near a major road, said that more research is needed among men and among women of different ages, races and income levels because nearly all participants were middle-age to elderly, white and of middle- to upper-socioeconomic class.

Hart added that regardless of where one lives, adopting heart-healthy habits, such as maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, eating nutritious foods, quitting smoking, and managing stress, can help decrease one's risk of heart and blood vessel disease.

Hart continued that their next step is to try to determine what specific exposures (such as air pollution) are driving the association between heart disease and major roadway proximity.

According to the study, which analysed data from 5,400 post-menopausal women in the San Diego metropolitan area, women who lived within 100 meters of a highway or major arterial road had a 22-percent greater risk of hypertension than women who lived at least 1,000 meters away. In a range of intermediate distances, hypertension risk rose with proximity to the roadways.

The study was published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.