[Life] AI Detects Cardiovascular Warning Signs: Air Pollution Hurts the "Heart" More Than Weather
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Does air pollution trigger cardiovascular diseases more easily than weather? A cross-disciplinary team from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) and University of Taipei analyzed over 5 million emergency room records in Taiwan over 23 years using AI. They discovered that traffic pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) are better predictors of high-risk days for cardiovascular emergencies than meteorological factors such as temperature and humidity. Elderly individuals aged 65 and above were most significantly affected by environmental changes. This research, published in the Q1 international journal "GeoHealth" under the American Geophysical Union (AGU), holds promise for developing a health early warning system to protect high-risk groups in advance. #CNA Reporter Chiang Chao-lun reports#
The interdisciplinary research team, composed of faculty from NTNU's Department of Earth Sciences and Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, and the University of Taipei's Department of Health and Welfare, integrated 23 years of meteorological observations, air quality monitoring, and over 5 million cardiovascular emergency records from 2000 to 2022 to establish a daily cardiovascular emergency risk prediction model.
The research team further collected data on temperature, humidity, wind speed, rainfall, and air pollutants such as PM2.5, ozone, and nitrogen oxides, creating 184 environmental features. Through artificial intelligence, they analyzed the correlation between environmental conditions and daily emergency risk to identify which environmental factors are most likely to trigger cardiovascular diseases.
Geographical distribution of research areas, environmental monitoring stations, and acute cardiovascular disease emergency data by the NTNU interdisciplinary team. The left figure shows the five major research areas (all: entire region; TNKY: Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Yilan; THM: Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli; YCTKP: Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung; TCN: Taichung, Changhua, Nantou; HT: Hualien, Taitung) and the locations of representative meteorological and air quality monitoring stations. The right figure shows the number of emergency visits for acute cardiovascular diseases across Taiwan and its regions from 2000–2022, categorized by gender and age group (30–49, 50–64, ≥65 years). (Provided by NTNU)
The results indicate that clusters of high risk formed by air pollution factors are better at distinguishing high-risk days for cardiovascular emergencies compared to traditional meteorological factors like temperature, humidity, or rainfall, which are more familiar to the public. Among these, traffic-related pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) showed the highest predictive power.
The study also found that environmental risks do not affect everyone equally. Men have approximately 1.7 times the emergency visit rate for acute cardiovascular diseases compared to women. Elderly individuals aged 65 and above are particularly high-risk groups, with an emergency visit rate about 2.4 times higher than those aged 50 to 64, and over 11 times higher than those aged 30 to 49.
Further analysis revealed that the 65 and above age group is most sensitive to environmental changes, followed by the 50 to 64 age group. Although women have a lower overall emergency visit rate, their sensitivity to changes in environmental conditions is slightly higher than men's. The emergency risk for the elderly in northern Taiwan was particularly well-predicted by the model, indicating a stable and significant association between environmental factors and cardiovascular emergency risk in the elderly.
Professor Chen Hui-hsuan from NTNU's Department of Earth Sciences, a proponent of the research team, further explained that neither air pollution nor temperature alone can fully explain the risk of cardiovascular emergencies. It is the combined effect of multiple environmental factors, with traffic-related nitrogen oxides (NOx) having the greatest impact among all combined factors. She stated: "(Original voice) It tells us that under these circumstances, we should all take more precautions. For example, you know NOx is often related to traffic emissions, so avoid areas with high traffic flow or environments with high air pollution. Yes, we can indeed make such a call."
However, Chen Hui-hsuan also pointed out that while the current research has proven that long-term climate and air quality changes can predict the risk of cardiovascular emergencies, developing a true health alert system requires further study into extreme weather, abnormal air pollution events, and individual factors such as physical condition and medical history. Nevertheless, she emphasized that establishing an early warning system is precisely the team's future direction.
The research team believes that with increasing attention on extreme climate and air pollution risks, the integration of artificial intelligence with environmental monitoring data can not only identify key factors affecting health but also serve as an important tool for future health risk management, providing greater protection to high-risk groups before dangers arise. (Editor: Shen Chen-chiang)
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=215668
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