Nickel appears to contribute to adverse cardiovascular outcomes associated with fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) according to a study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers.
The study was published online June 19, 2015 in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Lead author Lingzhen Dai, doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard Chan School, and colleagues used a novel method to select components of PM2.5 linked with blood pressure among 718 elderly men in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. They found that nickel, a marker of oil combustion, may contribute to higher blood pressure in the study group.
Other Harvard Chan School co-authors included Petros Koutrakis, professor of environmental sciences, Brent Coull, and Joel Schwartz, professor of environmental epidemiology and senior author.
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