nitrogen-dioxide and Heart-Diseases

Air pollutants, especially fine dust, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide, pose a danger to health worldwide. In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO), in order to protect public health, issued global recommendations for maximum levels of fine dust (10 μg/m3 for fine dust particles smaller than 2.5 μm [PM2.5]), ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. The recommended levels are regularly exceeded in many places in Germany.. This review is based on relevant publications retrieved by a selective search in PubMed and, in part, on an expert statement issued in the name of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) and the European Respiratory Society (ERS).. Air pollutants affect the entire body, from the beginning of intrauterine development all the way to the end of life, causing premature death mainly through lung and heart disease. An epidemiological study has shown, for example, that mor- tality rises approximately 7% for every incremental long-term exposure to 5 μg/m3 PM2.5 (95% confidence interval: [2; 13]). Aside from lung and heart disease, the carcinogenic effect of fine dust is now well established. High fine-dust exposure has also been linked to metabolic diseases. For example, in a meta-analysis of cohort studies, the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus was found to be associated with elevated fine dust concentrations, with a 25% relative risk increase [10; 43] for every 10 µg/m3 of PM2.5. More recent studies have shown that these substances cause harm even in concentrations that are below the recommended limits.. It is very important for public health that the current EU standards for rkedly lowered so that health risks can be further reduced, in accordance with the recommendations of the WHO.

Topics: Air Pollution; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Dust; Environmental Exposure; Germany; Heart Diseases; Humans; Lung Diseases; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone

This article summarises the latest information on the adverse cardiorespiratory effects of exposure to carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) in enclosed ice rinks. Sources of CO and NO(2) emissions are identified, current standards for these agents, as well as methods of controlling the emissions, dispersion, and evacuation of these toxic gases are presented. A detailed literature search involving 72 references in English and French from research conducted in North America and Europe was used. Material was from peer reviewed journals and other appropriate sources. Air pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) which are present in enclosed skating facilities, may exacerbate a pre-existing pathogenic condition in those people who spend considerable time in these environments. Considering the popularity of ice hockey, short track speed skating, and figure skating, and the hundreds of hours that a sensitive person may spend each year in these environments, it would seem appropriate to seek more definitive answers to this important health problem. From the findings and conclusions of the research reviewed in this paper, 10 recommendations are listed.

Topics: Air Pollution, Indoor; Carbon Monoxide Poisoning; Carboxyhemoglobin; Confined Spaces; Heart Diseases; Humans; Nitrogen Dioxide; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Public Facilities; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Skating; Ventilation

Topics: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Air Pollution, Indoor; Anhydrides; Asthma; Bronchitis; Chronic Disease; Environmental Illness; Global Health; Heart Diseases; Humans; Lung Diseases; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Risk Factors; Sulfur Compounds

Previous studies have mainly focused on the associations between particulate matters and infant mortality. However, evidence regarding the associations between gaseous pollutants and mortality among children aged <5 years remains sparse.. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between ambient air pollution and death among children aged <5 years in Beijing, China, and explore the impact of age, gender and specific causes of death on these associations.. Concentrations of ambient air pollution and the number of deaths among children aged <5 years in Beijing from January 2014 to September 2016 were extracted from authoritative electronic databases. The associations were estimated for a single-month lag from the current month up to the previous 5 months (lag0-lag5) and moving averages of the current and previous months (lag01-lag05) using generalized additive Poisson regression (adjusted for time trends, season, meteorological variables and holidays). Subgroup analyses related to age, gender and specific diseases were performed. Two-pollutant models were used to evaluate the possible role of single pollutants.. Sulfur dioxide (SO. Exposure to air pollution may increase the incidence of death among children aged <5 years. SO

Topics: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Beijing; Child; Child, Preschool; China; Heart Diseases; Humans; Infant; Mortality; Nitrogen Dioxide; Particulate Matter; Pneumonia; Sulfur Dioxide; Time Factors

Prenatal exposure to ambient air pollution has been associated with adverse birth outcomes, but the potential modifying effect of maternal comorbidities remains understudied. Our objective was to investigate whether associations between prenatal air pollution exposures and birth outcomes differ by maternal comorbidities.. A total of 818,400 singleton live births were identified in the province of Ontario, Canada from 2005 to 2012. We assigned exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) to maternal residences during pregnancy. We evaluated potential effect modification by maternal comorbidities (i.e. asthma, hypertension, pre-existing diabetes mellitus, heart disease, gestational diabetes and preeclampsia) on the associations between prenatal air pollution and preterm birth, term low birth weight and small for gestational age.. Interquartile range (IQR) increases in PM2.5 (2μg/m(3)), NO2 (9ppb) and O3 (5ppb) over the entire pregnancy were associated with a 4% (95% CI: 2.4-5.6%), 8.4% (95% CI: 5.5-10.3%) and 2% (95% CI: 0.5-4.1%) increase in the odds of preterm birth, respectively. Increases of 10.6% (95% CI: 0.2-2.1%) and 23.8% (95% CI: 5.5-44.8%) in the odds of preterm birth were observed among women with pre-existing diabetes while the increases were of 3.8% (95% CI: 2.2-5.4%) and 6.5% (95% CI: 3.7-8.4%) among women without this condition for pregnancy exposure to PM2.5 and NO2, respectively (Pint<0.01). The increase in the odds of preterm birth for exposure to PM2.5 during pregnancy was higher among women with preeclampsia (8.3%, 95% CI: 0.8-16.4%) than among women without (3.6%, 95% CI: 1.8-5.3%) (Pint=0.04). A stronger increase in the odds of preterm birth was found for exposure to O3 during pregnancy among asthmatic women (12.0%, 95% CI: 3.5-21.1%) compared to non-asthmatic women (2.0%, 95% CI: 0.1-3.5%) (Pint<0.01). We did not find statistically significant effect modification for the other outcomes investigated.. Findings of this study suggest that associations of ambient air pollution with preterm birth are stronger among women with pre-existing diabetes, asthma, and preeclampsia.

Topics: Adult; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Asthma; Comorbidity; Diabetes Mellitus; Female; Heart Diseases; Humans; Hypertension; Infant, Newborn; Male; Maternal Exposure; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ontario; Ozone; Particulate Matter; Pre-Eclampsia; Pregnancy; Premature Birth; Young Adult

Ambient air pollution is a complex mixture of particles and gaseous pollutants. Epidemiological studies are moving toward a multipollutant approach, requiring an understanding of possible interactions among the pollutants. We aim to estimate the joint effects of particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on emergency hospital admissions for cardiac diseases, and to explore the possible interactions between PM10 and NO2.. We collected daily time series data from 1998 to 2007 on emergency hospital admissions for cardiac diseases in Hong Kong, as well as PM10 and NO2 concentrations. Generalized additive Poisson model was used to examine the relationship between air pollution and hospital admissions. We then used three parallel time series approaches (bivariate response surface model, joint effect model and parametric stratified model) to explore the possible interactions between PM10 and NO2.. Results showed the greatest joint effect of PM10 and NO2 on emergency cardiac hospitalizations when PM10 and NO2 concentrations were both at high levels. The effect of PM10 was significantly greatest on the days with high NO2 level, and vice versa. A 10 μg/m(3) increase of lag0 PM10 and NO2 was associated with an increase of emergency cardiac hospitalizations by 0.55% (95% CI: 0.29-0.80%) and 1.20% (95% CI: 0.87-1.53%) respectively, when the other pollutant was at high level.. We found consistent synergistic interaction between PM10 and NO2 on emergency cardiac hospitalizations in Hong Kong. These findings contribute to the development of a new paradigm for multipollutant air quality management.

Topics: Air Pollution; Emergencies; Heart Diseases; Hong Kong; Humans; Models, Theoretical; Nitrogen Dioxide; Particulate Matter; Patient Admission

Although a number of studies have found an association between aircraft noise and hypertension, there is a lack of evidence on associations with other cardiovascular disease. For road traffic noise, more studies are available but the extent of possible confounding by air pollution has not been established.. This study used data from the Hypertension and Environmental Noise near Airports (HYENA) study. Cross-sectional associations between self-reported 'heart disease and stroke' and aircraft noise and road traffic noise were examined using data collected between 2004 and 2006 on 4712 participants (276 cases), who lived near airports in six European countries (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Italy). Data were available to assess potential confounding by NO2 air pollution in a subsample of three countries (UK, Netherlands, Sweden).. An association between night-time average aircraft noise and 'heart disease and stroke' was found after adjustment for socio-demographic confounders for participants who had lived in the same place for ≥ 20 years (odds ratio (OR): 1.25 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03, 1.51) per 10 dB (A)); this association was robust to adjustment for exposure to air pollution in the subsample. 24 hour average road traffic noise exposure was associated with 'heart disease and stroke' (OR: 1.19 (95% CI 1.00, 1.41), but adjustment for air pollution in the subsample suggested this may have been due to confounding by air pollution. Statistical assessment (correlations and variance inflation factor) suggested only modest collinearity between noise and NO2 exposures.. Exposure to aircraft noise over many years may increase risks of heart disease and stroke, although more studies are needed to establish how much the risks associated with road traffic noise may be explained by air pollution.

Topics: Aged; Air Pollutants; Aircraft; Automobiles; Circadian Rhythm; Cross-Sectional Studies; Environmental Exposure; Europe; Female; Heart Diseases; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nitrogen Dioxide; Noise, Transportation; Prevalence; Risk Factors; Stroke

Several studies have demonstrated positive associations between day-to-day increases in air pollution and stroke. These findings have been inconsistent, and the influence of patient characteristics has been largely ignored. In this study, we investigated the short-term effects of air pollution on stroke using a time-stratified case-crossover design. Data for hospital visits for stroke were extracted from 5927 medical charts of patients who presented to emergency departments between 2003 and 2009 in Edmonton, Canada. Daily concentrations of five air pollutants (NO(2), PM (2.5), CO, O(3), and SO(2)) were obtained from fixed-site monitors. Relative humidity and temperature were obtained from a metrological station operating at the city's airport. Chart data included: disease history, medication use, and smoking status. Conditional logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of stroke in relation to an increase in the interquartile range for each pollutant. Positive associations were observed between ischemic stroke and air pollution during the 'warm' season (April through September). Specifically, the OR for an increase in 9.4 ppb in the 3-day average of NO(2) was 1.50 (95% CI: 1.12, 2.01). There were no statistically significant associations with any of the other pollutants after adjusting for NO(2) concentrations. Associations with ischemic stroke were stronger for those with a history of stroke (OR=2.31; 95% CI: 1.39, 3.83), heart disease (OR=1.99; 95% CI: 1.20, 3.28), and taking medication for diabetes (OR=2.03; 95% CI: 1.14, 3.59). Temperature was inversely associated with ischemic stroke during the 'warm' season, but no associations were evident with the other stroke subtypes. Air pollution was not associated with hemorrhagic stroke or transient ischemic attacks. The findings suggest that specific patient characteristics modify associations between air pollution and ischemic stroke.

Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Alberta; Case-Control Studies; Cross-Over Studies; Emergency Service, Hospital; Female; Heart Diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Hypoglycemic Agents; Logistic Models; Male; Middle Aged; Nitrogen Dioxide; Odds Ratio; Risk Factors; Seasons; Stroke; Time Factors

In recent years, there is ever more awareness about the impact of polluted air on the incidence of acute and chronic cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation of certain meteorological factors, NO2 concentration in the air and number of patients presenting to Emergency Department of Internal Medicine, Sestre milosrdnice University Hospital Center (ED), during a two-year period, with special reference to the incidence of patients with a cardiac referral diagnosis according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The total number of patients was 44,245, of which 12,946 with a cardiac referral diagnosis. Meteorological parameters (temperature and air pressure) during the warm and cool periods of the year and NO2 concentrations during the study period were recorded. Study results showed the total number of patients presenting to ED to be greatest in summer, while the number of cardiac patients was highest in winter. There was positive correlation between the number of ED patients with cardiac referral diagnosis and increasing NO2 concentrations in the air. Despite the fact that the highest concentrations of NO2 were recorded in the cool period of the year when there were more traffic jams, the influence of the air NO2 concentration on the number of patients with cardiac diagnoses was statistically most significant in the warm period of the year when the slightest increase in the concentration of NO2 in the air significantly increased the number of cardiac patients presenting to ED. These results indicate the need for further research of the importance of photochemical processes and their impact on cardiovascular patients.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Emergency Service, Hospital; Heart Diseases; Humans; Meteorological Concepts; Nitrogen Dioxide; Seasons

The island factor of the cities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, along with their proximity to Africa and their meteorology, create a particular setting that influences the air quality of these cities and provides researchers an opportunity to analyze the acute effects of air-pollutants on daily mortality.. From 2000 to 2004, the relationship between daily changes in PM10, PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO, and ozone levels and daily total mortality and mortality due to respiratory and heart diseases were assessed using Generalized Additive Poisson models controlled for potential confounders. The lag effect (up to five days) as well as the concurrent and previous day averages and distributed lag models were all estimated. Single and two pollutant models were also constructed.. Daily levels of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and SO2 were found to be associated with an increase in respiratory mortality in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and with increased heart disease mortality in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, thus indicating an association between daily ozone levels and mortality from heart diseases. The effects spread over five successive days. SO2 was the only air pollutant significantly related with total mortality (lag 0).. There is a short-term association between current exposure levels to air pollution and mortality (total as well as that due specifically to heart and respiratory diseases) in both cities. Risk coefficients were higher for respiratory and cardiovascular mortality, showing a delayed effect over several days.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Carbon Monoxide; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Epidemiological Monitoring; Geography; Heart Diseases; Humans; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Particulate Matter; Respiration Disorders; Spain; Sulfur Dioxide; Time

Relatively few studies have been conducted of the association between air pollution and emergency department (ED) visits, and most of these have been based on a small number of visits, for a limited number of health conditions and pollutants, and only daily measures of exposure and response.. A time-series analysis was conducted on nearly 400,000 ED visits to 14 hospitals in seven Canadian cities during the 1990 s and early 2000s. Associations were examined between carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter (PM 10 and PM2.5), and visits for angina/myocardial infarction, heart failure, dysrhythmia/conduction disturbance, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and respiratory infections. Daily and 3-hourly visit counts were modeled as quasi-Poisson and analyses controlled for effects of temporal cycles, weather, day of week and holidays.. 24-hour average concentrations of CO and NO2 lag 0 days exhibited the most consistent associations with cardiac conditions (2.1% (95% CI, 0.0-4.2%) and 2.6% (95% CI, 0.2-5.0%) increase in visits for myocardial infarction/angina per 0.7 ppm CO and 18.4 ppb NO2 respectively; 3.8% (95% CI, 0.7-6.9%) and 4.7% (95% CI, 1.2-8.4%) increase in visits for heart failure). Ozone (lag 2 days) was most consistently associated with respiratory visits (3.2% (95% CI, 0.3-6.2%), and 3.7% (95% CI, -0.5-7.9%) increases in asthma and COPD visits respectively per 18.4 ppb). Associations tended to be of greater magnitude during the warm season (April - September). In particular, the associations of PM 10 and PM2.5 with asthma visits were respectively nearly three- and over fourfold larger vs. all year analyses (14.4% increase in visits, 95% CI, 0.2-30.7, per 20.6 microg/m3 PM 10 and 7.6% increase in visits, 95% CI, 5.1-10.1, per 8.2 microg/m3 PM2.5). No consistent associations were observed between three hour average pollutant concentrations and same-day three hour averages of ED visits.. In this large multicenter analysis, daily average concentrations of CO and NO2 exhibited the most consistent associations with ED visits for cardiac conditions, while ozone exhibited the most consistent associations with visits for respiratory conditions. PM 10 and PM2.5 were strongly associated with asthma visits during the warm season.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Carbon Monoxide; Cities; Emergency Medical Services; Environmental Monitoring; Epidemiological Monitoring; Geography; Heart Diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Inhalation Exposure; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Particulate Matter; Respiration Disorders; Seasons; Sulfur Dioxide

Few, if any, published time series studies have evaluated the effects of particulate matter air exposures by combining hospital admissions with medical visit data for smaller populations. We investigated the relationship between daily particulate matter (<10 microm in aerometric diameter or PM10) exposures with admissions and medical visits (emergency room, urgent care, and family practice) for respiratory and cardiovascular disease in Pocatello and Chubbuck, Idaho (population about 60,000), from November 1994 through March 2000. Within generalized linear models, time, weather, influenza, and day-of-week effects were controlled. In single-pollutant models, respiratory disease admissions and visits increased (7.1-15.4% per 50 microg/m3 PM10) for each age group analyzed, with the highest increases in two groups, children and especially the elderly. Statistical analyses suggest that the results probably did not occur by chance. Sensitivity analyses did not provide strong evidence that the respiratory disease effect estimates were sensitive to reasonable changes in the final degrees of freedom choice for time and weather effects. No strong evidence of confounding by NO2 and SO2 was found from results of multi-pollutant models. Ozone and carbon monoxide data were not available to include multi-pollutant models, but evidence suggests that they were not a problem. Unexpectedly, evidence of an association between PM10 with cardiovascular disease was not found, possibly due to the lifestyles of the mostly Mormon study population. Successful time series analyses can be performed on smaller populations if diverse, centralized databases are available. Hospitals that offer urgent or other primary care services may be a rich source of data for researchers. Using data that potentially represented a wide-range of disease severity, the findings provide evidence that evaluating only hospital admissions or emergency room visit effects may underestimate the overall morbidity due to acute particulate matter exposures. Further work is planned to test this conclusion.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Age Factors; Aged; Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Carbon Dioxide; Child; Cities; Heart Diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Idaho; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Linear Models; Lung Diseases; Middle Aged; Models, Biological; Nitrogen Dioxide; Particulate Matter; Seasons; Time Factors

Living close to major roads or highways has been suggested to almost double the risk of dying from cardiopulmonary causes. We assessed whether long-term exposure to air pollution originating from motorized traffic and industrial sources is associated with total and cause-specific mortality in a cohort of women living in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.. The study was a follow-up of a series of cross-sectional studies carried out during the 1980s and 1990s on the health of women (age 50-59 years). Approximately 4800 women were followed up for vital status and migration. Exposure to air pollution was defined by distance to major roads calculated from Geographic Information System data and by 1- and 5-year average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particle (PM10) concentrations calculated from air monitoring station data. We analyzed associations between exposure and mortality using Cox's proportional hazards models adjusting for confounders. Relative risks (RRs) refer to an interquartile range increase in exposure (16 microg/m for NO2; 7 microg/m for PM10).. During the follow-up period, 8% of the women died, 3% from cardiopulmonary causes. Cardiopulmonary mortality was associated with living within a 50-meter radius of a major road (adjusted RR = 1.70; 95% confidence interval = 1.02-2.81), with NO2 (1.57; 1.23-2.00 for 1-year average), and with PM10 (1.34; 1.06-1.71 for 1-year average). Exposure to NO2 was also associated with all-cause mortality (1.17; 1.02-1.34). No association was seen with noncardiopulmonary nonlung cancer mortality.. Living close to major roads and chronic exposure to NO2 and PM10 may be associated with an increased mortality due to cardiopulmonary causes.

Topics: Aged; Air Pollutants; Cause of Death; Cohort Studies; Cross-Sectional Studies; Developed Countries; Environmental Exposure; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Germany; Heart Diseases; Humans; Industry; Middle Aged; Mortality; Nitrogen Dioxide; Particulate Matter; Proportional Hazards Models; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Risk; Sex Factors; Vehicle Emissions

The objective of the study reported here was to analyze relationships between levels of air pollutants and emergency admissions for cardiorespiratory disease. Admission data from January 1, 1992, to December 31, 1995, were obtained from the Marques de Valdecilla University Hospital Admission Service; meteorological data (rainfall, temperatures wind speed, wind direction) were obtained from the National Meteorology Institute in Santander. Pollutant data on sulfur dioxide (SO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), total suspended particles (TSP), nitrogen oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were provided by the secretary of environment for the Cantabrian Regional Government. Rate ratios were estimated for each pollutant by Poisson regression; they were adjusted for meteorological variables. It was found that elevated NO2 increased by 20 percent the risk of having an admission for cardiorespiratory diseases; this effect was mainly due to respiratory diseases (rate ratio = 1.7, p < .001) and was negligible for cardiac diseases (rate ratio = 1.1, p = .28). In the one-pollutant model, elevated particulates and nitrogen monoxide were also related to admissions, but this effect disappeared when a five-pollutant model was used (p = .21 and p = 0.36, respectively. SO2 and SH2 did not show any relationship with admissions. Thus, nitrogen dioxide was the only pollutant the authors found to be related to emergency admissions for cardiorespiratory diseases. It is difficult to generalize from these results because of the small number of daily admissions and the variability in pollutant levels; therefore, more studies are necessary to improve knowledge about the relationship between air pollution and health in small towns.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Heart Diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Hydrogen Sulfide; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitrogen Oxides; Respiratory Tract Diseases; Spain; Sulfur Dioxide

To examine possible associations between daily concentrations of urban air pollutants and hospital emergency admissions and mortality due to cardiac and pulmonary disease.. A time series study was conducted in the City of Edinburgh, which has a population of about 450,000. Poisson log linear regression models were used to investigate the relation of the daily event rate with daily air pollution concentrations of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and black smoke from 1981 to 1995, and of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM10) from 1992 to 1995. Adjustments were made for seasonal and weekday variation, daily temperature, and wind speed.. The most significant findings were positive associations over the period 1981-95 between black smoke as a mean of the previous three days and daily all cause mortality in people aged > or = 65, and respiratory mortality also in this age group (3.9% increase in mortality for a 10 micrograms/m3 increment in black smoke). For hospital emergency admissions between 1992 and 1995 the two most significant findings (p < 0.05) were for cardiovascular admissions of people aged > or = 65 which showed a positive association with PM10 as a mean of the 3 previous days, and a negative association with O3 as a mean of the previous three days. Analyses of outcomes based on linkage with previous cardiorespiratory emergency admissions did not show substantially different results.. These data suggest that in the City of Edinburgh, after correction for confounders, there was a small but significant association between concentrations of black smoke and respiratory mortality in the older age group, probably attributable to higher pollution levels in the early part of the study period. There were also generally weak and variable associations between day to day changes in concentrations of urban air pollutants at a single central point and emergency hospital admission rates from cardiac and respiratory disease.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Air Pollutants; Carbon Monoxide; Heart Diseases; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Lung Diseases; Middle Aged; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Scotland; Smoke; Sulfur Dioxide; Time Factors

To determine the number of states with laws monitoring toxic gases in ice arenas. To inform physicians who care for ice skaters of the dangers of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide exposure in ice arenas.. Survey, literature review.. Health Departments of the 50 states and Washington D.C.. At risk are users of ice arenas. Vigorous exercise (hockey or competitive figure skating) and underlying pulmonary or cardiovascular disease increase the risk toxicity. Toxic gas concentration is determined by the amount of production from internal combustion engines, effectiveness and use of the ventilation system, and the "cold air pool" over the ice.. Number of states with laws regulating toxic gases in ice arenas.. Only two states (Minnesota and Rhode Island) have laws regulating toxic gases in indoor ice areas.. Physicians and the public are generally unaware of this problem. Toxic gas exposure in ice arenas is under recognized and underreported. The risks are not documented in journals generally seen by physicians who care for skaters. Conversion to electric ice resurfacing machines--the best solution--is not economically practical; legislation on the monitoring of toxic gas levels offers a reasonable alternative.

Topics: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution, Indoor; Carbon Monoxide; Environmental Exposure; Environmental Monitoring; Heart Diseases; Hockey; Humans; Lung Diseases; Minnesota; Nitrogen Dioxide; Physical Exertion; Poisons; Public Health Administration; Rhode Island; Risk Factors; Skating; Toxins, Biological; United States; Vehicle Emissions; Ventilation

Changes in cardiac function of rats acutely exposed to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were examined by electrocardiographic (ECG) records. Bradycardia and arrhythmia which were observed by exposure to 20 ppm NO2 or more for 3 h were abolished by injection of atropine sulfate. ECGs were recorded following experimental formation of nitrite (NO-2) and nitrate (NO-3) in blood of normal rats by administration of NaNO2 solution, but no remarkable changes were observed on ECG. These results suggest that abnormal cardiac function observed during acute exposure to NO2 is attributable to changes in parasympathetic nervous activity and not to elevated NO2- and NO3- concentration in blood.

Topics: Animals; Atropine; Electrocardiography; Heart Diseases; Nitrogen Dioxide; Nitrogen Oxides; Parasympathetic Nervous System; Rats; Time Factors

Topics: Aged; Air Pollution; California; Carbon Monoxide; Central Nervous System Diseases; Heart Diseases; Hospitalization; Humans; Humidity; Mathematics; Middle Aged; Nitric Oxide; Nitrogen Dioxide; Ozone; Sulfur Dioxide; Temperature