CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Estrogen may give women an edge in resisting heart disease that can be caused in part by air pollution, a new West Virginia University study found.
Researchers determined that males and post-menopausal females are more likely to suffer damaged arteries linked to diesel exhaust than women of childbearing age. That coincides with a major national study released earlier this year showing older women are at significantly higher risk for heart problems caused by air pollution than other people.
The research also found that when the estrogen-producing ovaries of the female lab animals were removed, their risk for damaged arteries increased.
The findings are especially significant for West Virginia, which grapples with the highest rate of heart disease in the country, and which has three metropolitan areas among the 25 worst for air pollution in the country, according to the American Lung Association.
"We are burdened tremendously with epidemics of obesity and cardiovascular disease in West Virginia," said researcher Timothy Nurkiewicz, who was among those from WVU's Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Cardiovascular Sciences who presented their findings earlier this month at a conference in Washington, D.C.
In January, a federally funded study of 65,893 women found that the fine grit in polluted air boosts the risk of heart disease in women who have gone through menopause.
Nurkiewicz said the WVU study suggests estrogen could play a factor in giving blood vessels greater ability to dilate, but that more research is needed.
"It shouldn't be taken out of context," he said. "It's still an animal study."
Nurkiewicz, who studied the effects of a type of particle found in diesel exhaust, used rats in the research. In the future, he wants to increase the types of air pollution particles he studies, and to include humans in the study.
Dr. David Meyerson, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins University and a spokesman for the American Heart Association, said the study's findings are also important for showing that even the smallest particles in air pollution can be harmful.
"This study and others like it may signal a new and important phase in our understanding of cardiovascular disease and air pollution," he said.
Earlier this year, the American Lung Association ranked the metropolitan areas of Weirton-Steubenville, Charleston, and Huntington-Ashland as among the 25 worst in the nation for air pollution. West Virginia also has the country's highest rate of heart disease among adults, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Kerry Gateley, executive director of the Kanawha County Health Department in Charleston, said polluted air can be especially dangerous for people with other conditions such as asthma or lung disease brought on by smoking.
"You put those individuals in a heavily polluted situation and they will tend to have adverse events quicker than the general population," he said.
