The Effect of Air Pollution on Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients with Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator

There is a proven link between air pollution (AP) and mortality due to cardiovascular disease and some epidemiological studies have suggested a stable association between cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, and AP. The present study was aimed to determine the relationship between AP and ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

The current study was conducted from April 2018 to March 2019 in Chamran Hospital of IUMS, Isfahan, Iran, on the 100 patients who had ICD and lived and worked in Isfahan. We record the residence and work of patients with ICD to be matched to the reports of the environment organization, and then detailed assessments related to VA were performed in them.

Of the patients, who did not show ventricular arrhythmia based on 6‑month analysis, 57.1% were male and 42.9% were female. In patients who showed ventricular arrhythmia, 66.7% were male and 30% were female. There was no significant difference between sex and the incidence of VA (P = 0.37). There is no significant difference between the presence of comorbidities and the incidence of VA (P = 0.89). The relationship between ventricular arrhythmia and AP was significant with spearman’s correlation coefficient of 0.26 and P = 0.008.

Increased AP is associated with an increase in the incidence of VA in patients with ICD, which increases the need for clinicians to pay attention to this issue and to explain it to patients. However, a more detailed study is needed to distinguish between the type of AP and the exact amount of each of the pollutant.