-
May 14, 2008 9:20 pm US/Eastern
-
Digg |
Facebook |
E-mail
|
Print
Study Finds Connection Between Pollution, DVT
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
When it comes to air pollution, people think about what it might do to the lungs, but a new study in the Archives of Internal Medicine is focusing on a different part of the body - the veins.
According to this study, the risk for Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT), which are dangerous blood clots in the veins, goes up in polluted areas.
But it's not our local pollution that worries Dr. Elisa Taff, who practices vascular medicine at Allegheny General Hospital.
"DVT dramatically increases with age, and we have one of the oldest populations in the country, so that would have to be accounted for," she said.
In the study, researchers in Italy looked at 870 people with DVT over a 10-year period and their level of air pollution exposure during the year before their blood clot.
They were compared to a group of similar people with DVT. The air pollutant they were most interested in was fine particulates, particles in the air no wider than a hair.
Based on what they looked at people with higher exposures to the fine particulates had a higher risk of DVT.
It's a starting point but not the final word.
"It's hard to know if the person had traveled, if they had spent time out of the area, depending on where they worked, it's hard to know what they were exposed to along the way," Taff said.
And while you can't change the air, you can change what you do.
"If you're going to take a long car trip, just make sure you get out of the car and walk frequently. If you're a smoker, stop smoking. If you have a family history of clotting in your family, think twice about taking oral contraceptives," Taff said.
It was the very fine particulates that gave Pittsburgh it's distinction as the nation's sootiest city. But with the slightly larger fine particulates, which was the focus of this study, Allegheny County is within standards.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)