A new German study has found that getting stuck in traffic may have a lot of unwanted consequences for your health. The researchers found it may triple a person’s risk of suffering a heart attack.

For those people who already are at higher risk for a heart attack, because of additional factors such as smoking or being overweight, traffic jams may be an additional stressor that could cause a heart attack, explained study author Annette Peters, head of the research unit at the Institute of Epidemiology in Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, Germany.

At the same time, the researchers noted that the people most exposed to heart attacks caused by traffic jams were the unemployed women and the elderly mails.

Furthermore, the study linked the risk for heart attack to pollution fumes inhaled while trapped in traffic. Particulate pollution is already known to increase the risk of heart attacks and other serious diseases. The risk of heart attack increases exponentially after exposure to even slightly higher amounts of metal and dust.

Guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology advise patients who have just been discharged from hospital after a heart attack to avoid heavy traffic because of the stress of driving. Even people without a heart attack should avoid or reduce heavy traffic exposure after discharge.

Experts say that traffic exposure involves both pollution exposure and stress.
The findings of the study were presented at the American Heart Association’s 49th Annual Conference on Cardiovascular Disease in Florida.