Research led by UCLA in collaboration with Peking University finds even short-term visits to severely polluted cities are bad for health

Even a short visit to a severely polluted city can be detrimental to one’s health, according to a new UCLA-led study published in the journal Circulation from the American Heart Association.

The study was conducted in collaboration with Peking University in Beijing. Study participants traveled from Los Angeles to Beijing over a 10-week period and experienced significant health changes during their time there, including some biomarkers associated with heart disease. However, most negative health effects reversed within four to seven weeks after the participants returned to Los Angeles

The lead author is Dr. Jesus Araujo, professor of medicine and director of environmental cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and professor of environmental health sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Yifang Zhu, co-lead author of the study, is a professor of environmental health sciences at the Fielding School.

“Los Angeles used to be nearly as polluted as Beijing is today,” Zhu said. “A city’s air quality can improve markedly when effective environmental policies are put into place.”  Zhu is conducting related research on air quality as part of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge.

Read more on UCLA Newsroom.

The research team also included: 

Yan Lin, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Gajalakshmi Ramanathan, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine

Fen Yin, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine

Nolan D. Rea, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine

Xinchen Lu, State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and Center for Environment and Health, Peking University

Chi-Hong Tseng, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine

Kym F. Faull, Pasarow Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

Alexader J. Yoon, Pasarow Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

Michael Jerrett, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health

Tong Zhu, State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and Center for Environment and Health, Peking University

Xinghua Qiu, State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and Center for Environment and Health, Peking University