Living on a busy road aggravates heart failure, according to new research. Exposure to air pollution has been linked to a rise in hospital procedures for stress, diabetes and blood clotting.
It adds to evidence regulatory standards are not sufficiently protective - and need further tightening. The results come from an analysis of almost 21,000 American patients.
Lead author Dr Samantha Catalano, from the University of North Carolina, said: "We observed increased performance of diagnostic procedures with increased PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) exposure - which fit with the known mechanisms of PM2.5 exposure."
