Consistent with the results of some of the previous studies, we found an association between fibrinogen and the levels of air pollutants.16 In addition, we examined, for the first time, the concentration and activity of natural anticoagulant proteins but found no consistent association with air pollution levels. In contrast to the results of the Mutlu et al. study,15 PTT had no correlation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical with exposure to air pollutants in our study. Previous studies have suggested that air pollutants alter blood coagulation through the induction of the tissue factor. Because air pollutants are known

to elicit pulmonary and systemic inflammatory Selleck FTY720 responses, perhaps pollution exposure increases the levels of mediators capable of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical inducing tissue factor expression, thereby generating a tendency to hypercoagulability.1,14-20

The absence of a correlation between PTT and exposure to air pollutants in our study is consistent with the above-mentioned hypothesis. Moreover, in this study, we observed a rise in the level of platelet count after exposure Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to pollutants. Similar observations were reported by Poursafa et al.21 in children and young adults residing in Isfahan, the second most polluted industrial city in Iran. A previous analysis of the mixture of dust positioned in the southwest of Iran reveled that it contains heavy metals such as uranium, thorium, arsenic, lead, zinc, cobalt, iron, copper, and nickel.22 Sangani et al.23

reported that sulfated metals (except for nickel) can decrease coagulation time by affecting Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical coagulant factors. The present study is not without limitations. A limitation of this study is that ambient air pollution was used as a surrogate for personal exposure, which may have contributed to Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical measurement inaccuracy. Such a measurement error would generally tend to bias estimates toward the null,24 and may affect the results. Nonetheless, the result of drawing upon ambient measurements to estimate exposure is likely to be only a modest underestimation Parvulin of pollution effects. In addition, due to some laboratory difficulties, the effect of pollutants on IL-6 was not investigated in this study. Many authors have reported the effect of pollutants on IL-6 and, as a result, coagulant state in their surveys. However, in regard to the other published data, it can be argued that we would have found a significant rise in IL-6 levels after climate change if we had measured it. We also did not assess the effect of these pollutants on cardiovascular diseases directly. A reduction in coagulation time can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Rückerl et al.25 suggested that air pollutants can increase the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases by affecting coagulation state. These findings were subsequently borne out by Conlon et al.