Posted on 10/21/2004 11:58:41 AM PDT by canuck_conservative
A new study by a team of German researchers suggests that commuting could be hazardous to your health. The study found an increased risk in having a heart attack, within two hours of being in traffic.
Interestingly, patients who had taken the bus or ridden a bike were even more likely to have an attack.
The research team, led by Annette Peters of the National Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg, looked at 691 people who suffered a heart attack between 1999 and 2001.
They found that nearly one in 12 attacks was linked to being stuck in traffic.
People caught in traffic were roughly three times more likely to suffer a myocardial infarction within an hour, compared with those who avoided the journey altogether.
The researchers believe that breathing in polluted air may be part of the problem. They noted:
* drivers were 2.6 times more likely to suffer a heart attack than those who weren't in traffic, * public transportation users were 3.1 times more likely, * and cyclists, 3.9 times more likely.
"Because the association was also observed for persons who used public transportation, it is unlikely that the effect is entirely attributable to the stress linked with driving a car," the researchers said.
But they added "given our current knowledge, it is impossible to determine the relative contribution of risk factors such as stress and traffic-related air pollution."
The study was funded partly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and published in the Thursday edition of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Stephan Van Eden, a Canadian researcher who reviewed the study for CTV, says the study has implications for most Canadians.
"It related to 80 per cent of Canadians. We live in urban areas and this is a unique urban problem," he says.
Canadian studies of urban air quality show that in heavy traffic, we can breathe in about 4 billion ultra fine pollution particles into our lungs with every single deep breath.
The particles seem to trigger inflammation in our lungs and the arteries, helping plaque to form which can then break off, leading to a heart attack.
"I believe people are not at all aware of what they are inhaling day by day and that the source of most of that pollution is traffic," says Jeff Brooks of Environment Canada.
The study is not the first to warn of the health risks associated with commuting. A study of some 9,000 Americans in 38 suburban areas, released earlier this month, concluded that suburbanites who have to travel great distances to work are at greater risk of a variety of health problems -- from arthritis to high blood pressure to obesity.
That study suggested suburbanites' reliance on their cars led to a sedentary, and ultimately unhealthy lifestyle.
Somehow, somewhere, someone will blame Bush for this.
I wonder if this study accounted for this phenomenon with a control group of non-commuters.
Okay, so I'm extremely weird. I have a two hour commute one way every day (four hours total, but I bet you were able to do the math on that, weren'tcha?), and believe it or not, I like it! I've learned a foreign language (modern Hebrew), I get to listen to TWO WHOLE WONDERFUL hours of GLORIOUS Mozart going in and TWO WHOLE WONDERFUL HOURS of MAGNIFICENT Beethoven going home. Books on tape are great, too. No beef here, even with the supposed health risk! :-D
OK.
Bush's Fault!
:-)
NOT commuting would be bad for my health. I make good money working in the city, so I don't stress about making ends meet. When I'm done with work I'm 50 miles away from the crime, pollution, noises, and general weirdness of the city.
At night, I can see stars. There's a pair of bald eagles that live nearby, and I can see them flying over the lazy Rum River out the back picture window.
There are tradeoffs-- life's full of them. I happen to love the ones I've made. Life is good.
Okay, so we'll have to start a "I Love Long Commutes" club! But I think we're the only two in the world!
Also, work wasn't 'convenient'. "Heck wbill, just run in and look at this problem. You only live a few minutes away." I never got that when I lived 30 miles away, happens all the time now.
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