3D Illustration Concept of Human Circulatory System Heart Anatomy
As we continue to make connections between air pollution and human health, we see some very specific and concrete examples of why we have to be concerned about the air that we breathe.
One recent piece of research comes from an article published in the Radiology journal within the past year. In it, researchers used cardio MRI to look at the phenomenon of myocardial fibrosis. Or in simple language, scarring of the heart.
Causes of Myocardial Fibrosis
The causes of myocardial fibrosis are diverse. You can get myocardial fibrosis from having a heart attack, where there’s residual damage to the heart in the form of scar tissue. There are also genetic factors in play.
But recent science suggests that poor air quality may contribute to this outcome, and that there’s a significant correlation to be studied. That’s interesting. Maybe cleaning the air can have a positive effect.
The Study
Reporting on the study reveals that the project involved 200 healthy people and nearly 500 people with an underlying condition.
They were exposed to specific levels of PM 2.5, which is air particles with a diameter of 2.5 µm or less.
We’ll get back to that. It’s a major theme in explaining what air purifiers do for our customers and how they work.
We also want to detail the origin of PM 2.5 and explain where it comes from.
But for the purposes of this study, one significant finding was that the risk factor went up according to the amount of exposure. Even a mild amount of exposure, though, was significant.
“The air pollution exposure levels of the patients in the study were below many of the global air quality guidelines, reinforcing that there are no safe exposure limits,” wrote authors at the Radiological Society of North America. In other words, people exposed to more PM2.5 had worse outcomes. That’s a significant finding in terms of causation.
What is PM 2.5?
So essentially, PM 2.5 refers to small microparticles that can get embedded in the lungs and cause all kinds of health problems, many of them related to respiratory conditions. Maybe you or someone in your family has asthma, and it’s getting worse. Are there hidden contaminants in the air inflaming this condition? Or if someone is developing another chronic condition, like heart disease, does that have anything to do with pulmonary capacity?
PM 2.5 comes from various sources. It comes from vehicle exhaust. It comes from industrial pollution. But many of us don’t know that it also comes from natural wood combustion. So if you have a bonfire, a campfire or even a lit candle, various amounts of PM 2.5 get generated.
That’s where we talk about the combination of outdoor air and indoor air. Outdoor air is hard to control – if you’ve seen these major wildfires and how they release smoke into the atmosphere, you know that it’s nearly impossible to control that pollution in the air.
Inside your home, however, you have the ability to run modern air purifier appliances, therefore, keeping that air safe and healthy to breathe. And we spend a lot of time in our homes – sleeping, eating, preparing meals, and generally living our lives. Also, modern homes are usually pretty well sealed for weatherization, so the air is more controlled than it was many years ago.
Protecting Human Health
In many ways, this type of concern is largely an awareness problem.
It’s not an extremely complex thing to take an air monitor and see what’s in your indoor air, and then set up an air purifier in that space.
So this kind of research is important, for understanding your risk factors and risk profile for conditions like myocardial fibrosis.
It’s also important to know more about what’s on hand with modern air purifier systems.
Ask US Air Purifiers LLC about this: we have an established track record of helping shoppers to pick the right models that will give them the confidence and safety that they want in their homes.