Diesel exhaust increases clot formation

EDINBURGH , Scotland, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Diesel exhaust increases clot formation and blood platelet activity, which could lead to heart attack and stroke, Scottish and Swedish researchers found.

The double-blind, randomized, cross-over study included 20 healthy men ages 21 to 44. They were separately exposed to filtered air -- the control -- and diluted diesel exhaust at 300 micrograms per meter cubed, a level comparable to curbside exposure on a busy street.

Lead author Dr. Andrew Lucking of the University of Edinburgh and colleagues performed the exposures in a specially built diesel exposure chamber. Two hours and six hours after exposure, the researchers measured clot formation, coagulation, platelet activation and inflammatory markers.

Volunteers who breathed air with diluted diesel exhaust increased clot formation in the low shear chamber by 24.2 percent and the high shear chamber by 19.1 percent compared to the others -- both two hours and six hours after diesel exposure.

"High levels of traffic pollution are known to increase the risk of heart attack in the immediate hours or days after exposure," Lucking said in a statement. "These findings provide a potential mechanism that could link exposure to traffic-derived air pollution with acute heart attack."

The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla.