Another study shows Beijing's air is bad for heart health

The thick smogs that blanket Beijing and other Chinese cities have been thought to have adverse effects on respiratory health, but now a study shows they also do terrible things to the cardiovascular system.
Doctors from Peking Union Medical College have found there is a strong association between combustion-related air pollution and blood pressure. During  2012 they monitored pollution levels and personal levels of "black carbon" on five consecutive days in patients with metabolic syndrome in Beijing.
In a paper in the journal Hypertension, they report that exposure to high levels of black carbon was associated significantly with adverse cardiovascular responses. A one unit increase in personal black carbon during the previous 10 hours was associated with an increase in systolic blood pressure of 0.53 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure of 0.37 mm Hg. They also found that carbon had adverse effects on autonomic function. "These findings highlight the public health effect of air pollution and the importance of reducing air pollution.