Air pollution: an insidious and pervasive component of cardiac risk.

It has long been appreciated that fine particulate air pollution contributes to the pathology of respiratory disease and cancer.1,2 The more elusive link to cardiovascular disease, however, has been recognized only in the last decade. Epidemiological1–5 and experimental laboratory6 evidence has been mounting that supports the postulate that elevated concentrations of particulate air pollution contribute to cardiovascular morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality.