Smoke in Iowa’s air increases risk of sudden cardiac arrest

Smoke from nearly 500 separate Canadian wildfires continues to choke the Midwest. The hazy air began to move in earlier this week to Eastern Iowa. On Tuesday, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources posted a map to their Facebook page showing unhealthy air over two-thirds of the state.The Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association said the smoke in the air can be a risk for sudden cardiac arrest."Most people think of breathing problems and respiratory health dangers from wildfire smoke, but it’s important to recognize the impact on cardiovascular health, as well," vice president for science and innovation at the American Heart Association and Comilla Sasson, M.D., said. "Wildfire smoke contains a lot of pollutants, including fine, microscopic particles linked to cardiovascular risk. As many of these fires burn out of control and that contaminated smoke is traveling many miles beyond the immediately affected area."Brian Geelan, from the Iowa chapter of the American Heart Association, offered tips for reducing exposure to wildfire smoke."Recommendations stem around staying inside when the air quality is very poor, especially if you have some of those underlying conditions, running that air conditioning, making sure you have a high-quality filter, and good recommendations, like staying hydrated," Geelan said.For most people, the bad air is just an annoyance. The Iowa air quality alert is set to end Thursday.