We all know that the air we breathe is not exactly the best. But the new study from the Polytechnic of Milan presents us with a fact that leaves little room for the imagination: there is a direct link between pollution and cardiac arrests, and it is not a weak link at all.
The point is not just air quality in general, but what happens on peak days, when smog levels spike. And this is where the heart, literally, seems to pay the highest price.
When the air is polluted, the heart accelerates risks
The study, published on Global Challengesanalyzed 37,613 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests recorded in Lombardy between 2016 and 2019. For each case, the researchers cross-referenced the clinical data with the daily concentrations of various pollutants: PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, NO₂, ozone and carbon monoxide, also using satellite measurements from the European Copernicus programme.
And the result is simple, if not very comforting:
There is no need to exceed the legal limits. Even below the threshold the effects are there, of course.
Urban areas show the strongest link, but the countryside is by no means immune. And in the hot months – when intense heat adds to the pollution – the situation gets even worse.
Amruta Umakant Mahakalkar, researcher at the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, explains the dynamics:
We observed a strong association with NO₂… and the effects are seen within four days.
It is not a problem “of the future”. It’s today, and it’s immediate.
The emergency services? They may find themselves unprepared
According to Enrico Caiani, professor at the Polytechnic and co-author, it’s not just about numbers:
During pollution peaks, health services should expect more calls.
It means that pollution is not just an environmental factor: it is an acute health factor.
The most industrialized region of Italy has been experiencing a dangerous mix for years: population density, traffic, domestic stoves, poorly ventilated winters. The result is a cocktail that the World Health Organization considers among the top environmental risk factors for many non-communicable diseases.
From problem to solution
Precisely from this scenario was born CLIMA-CARE, a project financed by ESA, led by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and with the participation of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) under the WMO.
The objective is ambitious: to understand how climate and pollution will affect public health, today and in the coming decades, and to provide emergency services with forecasting tools to manage requests in critical periods.
As Lorenzo Gianquintieri, researcher at the Polytechnic, explains:
The project will help us observe the impact of climate change on a population scale, from a One-Health perspective.
Ultimately, the environment, humans and animals are not watertight compartments. They breathe the same air, experience the same consequences.
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