Carbon Monoxide and Survival From Myocardial Infarction

To test the hypothesis that during high periods of carbon monoxide (CO) pollution, persons with acute cardiovascular disease would be adversely affected, we have studied case fatality rates for patients admitted with myocardial infarction (Ml) to 35 Los Angeles hospitals during 1958. The results indicate that there is an increased Ml case fatality rate in “high”-pollution areas and that this difference is only evident during periods of relatively increased CO pollution. At the present time, our interpretation of these findings is that an association could exist between ME case fatality rate and atmospheric CO pollution but we cannot draw any firm conclusions about causality at this time.