Looks like we can add “living next to a highway” to the list of things that will
kill you!
TERRIFIC.
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - and when you’re looking for a place to live, there are a lot
of things you probably consider: neighborhood, nearby schools, proximity to work - but what
about highways?
Most people might not wanna live near a highway because of the noise - but what if I told
you, it could actually give you a heart attack?
Well, according to a new study - it might.
Research published this week in the journal Circulation, has found that living close to
a major road or highway - may actually increase a woman’s risk of sudden cardiac death.
Terrifying, right?
Researchers at Harvard Medical School studied data from over 100,000 women taken between
1986 and 2012.
After adjusting for factors like age, race, cigarette smoking, physical activity, and
diet - they figured out where each woman lived, and then calculated the distance from their
home to the nearest roadway.
What they found, is that living within 50 meters of a major roadway, increased a woman’s
risk of sudden cardiac death by 38% - compared to women who lived at least 500 meters away.
What’s more, is that for every 100 meters closer to a roadway a woman lived, she increased
that risk by 6%.
According to researchers, proximity to nearby roadways is AS important a risk factor as
smoking, diet, or obesity.
Keep in mind, though, that this study didn’t account for every possible risk factor.
All of the participants were women, and most of them were white, middle-aged to elderly,
and of middle- to upper-socioeconomic class.
So more research is definitely needed, and especially research that looks at both men
and women of different ages, races, and income levels.
Even so, it’s pretty hard to deny a correlation here - and it certainly isn’t the first
study that explores this link.
Previous research has also found that living near a roadway increases your risk of developing
coronary heart disease.
Although scientists still aren’t sure why that is.
The leading theory is that air pollution could be what’s causing it.
So the next step, researchers say, is figuring out exactly what’s behind it.
Especially since, according to the EPA, 35 million Americans live within 300 meters of
a major road.
What do you guys think?
Any wild theories as to what could be causing this?
You can let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.
Otherwise, thanks for watching!