Heart Facts

• Heart disease and stroke are the first and fourth leading causes of death in the U.S.
• Air pollution can affect heart health and can trigger heart attacks and strokes that cause disability and death.
• One in three Americans has heart or blood vessel disease and is at higher risk from air pollution.

EPA is raising awareness of heart disease and its link to air pollution and other environmental factors.

Blog posts

• Green Heart: Burn Wise for Your Heart by Ann Brown
• Green Heart: Will You Be Mine? by Aaron Ferster
• Air Pollution and Your Health by Jason Sacks, Beth Owens, and Barbara Buckley
• American Heart Month: Taking Action to Protect Our Health by Wayne E. Cascio, MD
• Ozone Exposure and Your Heart by Jing Zhang
• You Don’t Need Oz to Give You a Healthy Heart by Christina Motilall
• Asthma and Air Pollutant Health Effects by Jan Dye

Q&As

• Meet EPA Scientist, Robert Devlin, Ph.D.- Dr Devlin's main research interest is understanding the human health effects of air pollution. His research is used to characterize the effects that inhaled substances, such as air pollutants, have on human pulmonary (related to lungs and breathing) and cardiovascular (heart, lungs, and blood flow) health, and the physiological changes responsible for those effects.
• Q&A: Meet EPA Scientist Mehdi S. Hazari, Ph.D. - Dr. Hazari is a recipient of the 2011 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers—the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to professionals in the early stages of research careers. Through his research, he explores how breathing in low levels of air pollutants could increase people's susceptibility to heart attacks and other cardiac events.

• Article: Health Effects of Biodiesel