Can cleaner indoor air improve heart health? Kerala institute launches new study to investigate

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 4 (PTI) Researchers at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute in Kerala have launched a study to investigate whether improving indoor air quality can benefit patients with heart failure, amid growing concerns about the impact of air pollution on cardiovascular health.

The study is a collaborative effort between the central institute and partners in both India and the US. It is part of the Indo-US collaborative agreement on environmental and occupational health. The focus is to determine if reducing indoor air pollution can improve the health of people with heart failure, an official statement said.

The study is being conducted at three major medical centers in the country, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi; Dayanand Medical College (DMC), Ludhiana; and SCTIMST here, it said.

As a first step, air purifiers have already been installed in the homes of 10 heart failure patients across Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts.

The plan is to expand this effort and install a total of 200 air purifiers in patients’ homes across these districts, it said.

"Air pollution is often seen as a problem of cities and traffic, but indoor air pollution is equally dangerous, especially in places where people spend most of their time — their homes," the statement added.

For patients with heart failure, who are particularly vulnerable to environmental stressors, breathing cleaner air could significantly reduce complications, hospitalisations, and even deaths.

This study could have wide-reaching public health implications, and its findings could benefit millions of people living in polluted regions, not just in India, but globally, it said.

At SCTIMST, the project is led by Dr Harikrishnan S as the Principal Investigator, with Dr Jeemon, Dr Sanjay, and Dr Jyothi Vijay serving as Co-Principal Investigators, the statement added. PTI LGK ROH