Results of our studies were presented at the ESC Congress 2023 in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Air pollution is one of the leading environmental risk factors affecting the population worldwide. Studies so far mostly analyzed urban and industrial areas excluding smaller towns and villages due to a lack of monitoring stations and recognition of these areas as potentially free from pollution. Our analysis focuses on Eastern Poland, one of the poorest regions of the EU, with a population of nearly 8 million people with almost half living in rural areas. We investigate the impact of “Polish smog” a new type of air pollution which – due to its composition and the conditions in which it is formed – is characterized by extremely adverse cardiovascular health effects.