Global Health Asia-Pacific September 2020 September 2020 | Page 24

Heart News
Exercise beats air pollution
It outweighs the negative effects of pollution on blood pressure
Regular exercise keeps blood pressure down even if you do it in
relatively polluted areas, according to research published in the
journal Circulation.
With air pollution increasing the risk of high blood pressure and more
than 91 percent of the global population living in areas whose air quality
is not up to World Health Organization (WHO) standards, many people
may be faced with the conundrum of what’s best for their health.
“Extended outdoor activity in urban areas increases the intake of air
pollutants, which can worsen the harmful health effects of air pollution,�
said study author �iang �ian �ao, an associate professor at the �ockey
Club School of Public Health and Primary Care at The Chinese University
of Hong Kong, in a press release. “While we found that high physical
activity combined with lower air pollution exposure was linked to
lower risk of high blood pressure, physical activity continued to have a
protective effect even when people were exposed to high pollution levels.
The message is that physical activity, even in polluted air, is an important
high blood pressure prevention strategy.”
He added, however, that the study also highlighted the strong
detrimental impact of pollution on blood pressure and the importance of
minimising exposure to it to protect heart health.
Researchers analysed data from more than 140,000 adults in Taiwan,
where ambient air is moderately contaminated with pollutants, and
cautioned the study results couldn’t be applied to populations living in
more polluted areas.
COVID-19 shown to
damage the heart
It could contribute to future cardiac problems
even in people who’ve recovered from the infection
The damage caused by the novel coronavirus
still raging across the world could have lasting
detrimental effects on the heart’s muscles, two
different studies have shown.
In one analysis, the magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI) of 100 patients who recovered from COVID-19
was compared to the cardiac images of similar
people without the infection. Months later those
who got the infection were more likely to have some
heart damage in the form of structural changes,
in�ammation, or injury typically caused by a heart
attack.
All the patients were healthy before coming down
with COVID-19, Dr Valentina Puntmann, study author
and a cardiologist at University Hospital Frankfurt,
told STAT.
In another study, researchers analysed the hearts
of 39 patients infected with COVID-19 who died
during the pandemic and found 24 of them had high
levels of coronavirus, which in some cases were
associated with in�ammation.
It’s still unclear whether this type of damage can
resolve or is permanent in patients who survive the
coronavirus.
“These are two studies that both suggest that
being infected with Covid-19 carries a high likelihood
of having some involvement of the heart. If not
answering questions, [they] prompt important
questions about what the cardiac aftermath is,”
Dr Matthew Tomey, a cardiologist and assistant
professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine
at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, told
STAT.
22 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2020 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific.com