Exercise better for heart even in air pollution

Even when traffic fumes permeate the air, it's still better for your heart if you get outside and exercise than if you spend all day sitting inside, a recent study suggests. While exercise has long been linked to a variety of health benefits including a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, exposure to air pollution has been tied to an increased risk of heart attacks, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD), lead study author Nadine Kubesch of the University of Copenhagen in Denmark said in a statement. For the study, Kubesch and her colleagues examined data on air pollution exposure, exercise habits, and hospitalizations or fatalities related to heart attacks for 51,868 adults in Denmark ages 50 to 65. During an average follow- up period of almost 18 years, 3,260 participants, or 6 percent, had either a first or recurrent heart attack. People living in areas with high levels of air pollution were 17 percent more likely to have a heart attack during the study than residents of low- pollution areas, the study found. And those who had a history of heart attack at the start of the study were 39 percent more likely to have a heart attack during follow- up when they lived in high- pollution areas. Exercise, however, appeared to help even when people lived in polluted places. Adults who regularly played sports in regions with high levels of air pollution, for example, were 21 percent less likely to have a heart attack than people who were inactive. “Our study supports the exiisting evidence that physical activity even during exposure to air pollution can reduce the risk of heart attack,” Kubesch said in a statement.