(Press-News.org) CHICAGO – Long-term exposure to common air pollutants is associated with more advanced coronary artery disease—with notable differences between women and men—according to a large-scale study of more than 11,000 adults being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
The findings show that even levels of pollution below or near regulatory standards and typical urban exposures are associated with early signs of heart disease—often before symptoms appear—and underscore the importance of improving air quality to reduce cardiovascular disease risk.
Air pollution is a pressing global health issue, contributing to an estimated 2.46 million cardiovascular deaths in 2021, according to a study based on Global Burden of Disease data. It is one of the greatest environmental risks to health and plays a major role in causing heart attacks and stroke, according to the World Health Organization.
For the retrospective study, cardiac CT was used to evaluate the relationship between long-term exposures to two common pollutants found in urban air, ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). PM2.5 sources include vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions and wildfire smoke, and at about 30 times smaller than a human hair, these tiny particles can penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream. NO2 is a harmful gas produced mainly by burning fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and industrial processes.
“Even at low exposure levels, air pollution is associated with more plaque in the coronary arteries,” said Felipe Castillo Aravena, M.D., study lead author and cardiothoracic imaging fellow in the Department of Medical Imaging, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, and University Health Network (UHN). “Overall, higher long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with more coronary artery disease on cardiac CT in both women and men. In women, long-term exposure to fine particulate matter was linked to higher calcium scores and more severe narrowing of the arteries. In men, higher long-term exposure to fine particulate matter was associated with higher calcium scores and higher plaque burden.”
Nitrogen dioxide exposure was associated with coronary artery disease in both men and women.
Researchers analyzed data from adults who had undergone cardiac CT exams from 2012 through 2023 across three major hospitals in Toronto. They linked patients’ residential postal codes with air quality data to estimate each person’s average exposure to air pollution over the 10-year period prior to CT. Three markers of coronary artery disease were assessed: calcium score, total plaque burden and obstructive stenosis (artery narrowing).
For each increase in long-term PM2.5 of 1 microgram per cubic meter, there was an 11% increase in calcium build-up in the coronary arteries, 13% greater odds of more plaque and 23% greater odds of obstructive disease. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide showed similar trends, though with smaller effect sizes for every 1 part per billion increase.
Additional research is needed to understand the exact mechanisms and establish causality, but biological, social, and behavioral differences, along with plaque characteristics, may be contributors to the differences seen in women and men, Dr. Castillo said.
“This is one of the largest studies to link long-term gaseous and particulate air pollution at contemporary exposure levels with multiple markers of coronary artery disease assessed by cardiac CT,” said study senior author Kate Hanneman, M.D., M.P.H., a cardiac radiologist, associate professor and vice chair of research at the University of Toronto and UHN. “Heart disease is the number one cause of death globally. The results of this study add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution is a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor and reinforce the need for further research to understand why these associations differ between men and women.”
Additional co-authors are Chloe DesRoche, M.D., M.Sc., Scott Delaney, Sc.D., J.D., M.P.H., Rachel Nethery, Ph.D., Paaladinesh Thavendiranathan, M.D., S.M., and Heather Ross, M.D., M.H.Sc.
###
Note: Copies of RSNA 2025 news releases and electronic images will be available online at RSNA.org/press25.
RSNA is an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. (RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on cardiac CT, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
END
Kyoto, Japan -- "Why are we here?" is humanity's most fundamental and persistent question. Tracing the origins of the elements is a direct attempt to answer this at its deepest level. We know many elements are created inside stars and supernovae, which then cast them out into the universe, yet the origins of some key elements has remained a mystery.
Chlorine and potassium, both odd-Z elements -- possessing an odd number of protons -- are essential to life and planet formation. According to current theoretical models, stars ...
The choreographed movements that cells perform to form complex biological shapes, like our hands, have fascinated scientists for centuries. Now, researchers at EMBL Barcelona have launched LimbNET, an open-access online platform that allows scientists to directly choreograph this dance by computationally simulating how genes guide these intricate growth processes. Their work has recently been published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology.
LimbNET is much more than a simple data repository. It is a new type of platform allowing ...
A research team led by Ryo Shimano of the University of Tokyo has successfully visualized two distinct mechanisms through which up and down spins, inherent properties of electrons, switch in an antiferromagnet, a material in which spin alignments cancel each other out. One of the visualized mechanisms provides a working principle for developing ultrafast, non-volatile magnetic memory and logic devices, which could be much faster than today’s technologies. The findings are published in the journal Nature Materials.
Paper slips with holes, small metal rods, vacuum tubes, and transistors: these are technologies that have ...
Growing energy demand means the U.S. will almost certainly have to expand its electricity grid in coming years. What’s the best way to do this? A new study by MIT researchers examines legislation introduced in Congress and identifies relative tradeoffs involving reliability, cost, and emissions, depending on the proposed approach.
The researchers evaluated two policy approaches to expanding the U.S. electricity grid: One would concentrate on regions with more renewable energy sources, and the other would create more interconnections across the country. For instance, some of the best untapped wind-power resources in the U.S. lie ...
A recently published article in the journal BioScience has revealed a surprising opportunity for conserving threatened species: sports teams and their branding.
The research, led by Dr. Ugo Arbieu of Université Paris-Saclay in France, analyzed 727 sporting organizations across 50 countries and 10 team sports. The authors found that "threatened species and species with a declining population trend are more represented than other species, with differences across regions."
Arbieu and colleagues explain that "given the ongoing global biodiversity crisis and the importance of sport in modern societies, representations ...
Media Contact:
John Dudley
(814) 490-3290 (cell)
jjdudley@usf.edu
TAMPA, Fla. (Dec. 2, 2025) – A new study led by researchers at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science has found that certain populations of the seaweed sargassum have experienced a significant decline over the past decade, even as increased abundance of sargassum in the tropical Atlantic has caused large mats of the seaweed to inundate beaches across the Caribbean and Gulf regions.
The abundance of sargassum in the Atlantic’s ...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is invaluable in the medical world. But despite all the good it does, there is room for improvement. One way to enhance the sensitivity of MRI is called dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP), where target molecules for imaging are modified so they form clearer images when scanned with an MRI machine. But this technique requires some special crystalline materials mixed with polarizing agents which are difficult to create. For the first time, researchers including those from the University of Tokyo demonstrate the use of molecules called fullerenes as polarizing agents. Their new method can make DNP targets sufficient to yield far greater clarity when ...
Addressing Current Limitations in Spatial Omics
Existing tools for spatial proteomics often have constraints. Many are not equipped to predict multiple localizations for individual proteins or to quantify across different cellular compartments. In addition, their use frequently requires programming knowledge and lacks accessible interfaces, which can limit broader application. Spatial lipidomics has remained challenging due to the absence of reliable markers for lipid localization.
Introducing a Tool for Integrated Spatial Proteomics and Lipidomics
C-COMPASS was developed to address these methodological gaps. The software uses neural networks to predict multiple subcellular ...
Lions, tigers, wolves, leopards, and bears are some the world’s favourite sport symbols, but while they thrive on jerseys, many of these species are at risk of extinction in the wild.
A new international study, co-authored by Flinders University researchers, reveals that nearly 25% of professional sports teams worldwide use a wild animal in its name, logo, or fan identity, presenting a powerful and largely untapped opportunity to support biodiversity conservation.
The research, published in BioScience, examined 727 teams across 50 countries and 10 major sports, identifying at least 161 different wild animals featured in professional ...
Fever, aching limbs and a runny nose – as winter returns, so too does the flu. The disease is triggered by influenza viruses, which enter our body through droplets and then infect cells.
Researchers from Switzerland and Japan have now investigated this virus in minute detail. Using a microscopy technique that they developed themselves, the scientists can zoom in on the surface of human cells in a Petri dish. For the first time, this has allowed them to observe live and in high resolution how influenza viruses enter a living cell.
Led by Yohei Yamauchi, Professor of Molecular Medicine at ETH Zurich, the researchers ...
