Solar and geomagnetic activity enhance the effects of air pollutants on atrial fibrillation.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Cardiac arrhythmias have been associated with intense solar and geomagnetic activity (SGA) and exposures to air pollution.

Methods and results

We examined whether oscillations of SGA can modify the effect of hourly exposures to air pollutants on atrial fibrillation ≥30 s (AF) risk in patients with dual-chamber implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. The effects of SGA on ambient particulate matter <2.5 µm (PM2.5), black carbon (BC), ultrafine particles (PN), and associations with AF were assessed. Measures of SGA included solar wind proton density (SW), total interplanetary magnetic field strength (IMF), and Kp index, a measure of global geomagnetic activity. Overall time lags between 0 and 24 h, periods of increased SGA (>50th percentile in IMF, SW, and Kp index) enha

SUBMITTER: Zilli Vieira CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9071068 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature