Heart patients should avoid traffic pollution, stated a recent US study. According to the study, traffic pollution can hinder heart’s ability to conduct electrical signals. The researchers at Harvard University said that people who have serious coronary artery disease could have problems from the tiny particles emitted from air pollution as well as the black carbon from exhaust fumes that could cause ST segment depression. This usually indicates an inadequate supply of oxygen and blood flow to the heart.

Published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, the study was based on the electrocardiograms of 48 patients who had been hospitalized for heart attack, unstable angina or deteriorating symptoms of coronary heart disease over the period of a year. The subjects wore special monitors that intermittently checked for ST-segment depression during the study period.panic attack