Environmental Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease: Part 2 of 2: Soil, Water, and Other Forms of Pollution

Usman Sagheer, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Sadeer Al-Kindi, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University Hospitals, Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Shady Abohashem, Divison of Cardiovascular Imaging, Radiology Department, Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Colin T. Phillips, Department of Cardiology, Maine Medical Center, Portland, Maine, USA.
Jamal S. Rana, The Permanente Medical Group, Department of Cardiology, Oakland Medical Center, Oakland, California, USA.
Aruni Bhatnagar, Division of Environmental Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Martha Gulati, Department of Cardiology, Barbra Streisand Women's Heart Center, Smidt Heart Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Sanjay Rajagopalan, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University Hospitals, Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Dinesh K. Kalra, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Abstract

With a growing body of evidence that now links environmental pollution to adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes, pollution has emerged as an important risk factor for CVD. There is thus an urgent need to better understand the role of pollution in CVD, key pathophysiological mechanisms, and to raise awareness among health care providers, the scientific community, the general population, and regulatory authorities about the CV impact of pollution and strategies to reduce it. This article is part 2 of a 2-part state-of-the-art review on the topic of pollution and CVD-herein we discuss major environmental pollutants and their effects on CVD, highlighting pathophysiological mechanisms, and strategies to reduce CVD risk.