Utah is "an interesting place in that, unlike many places, where pollution is generated more regionally and cities add to it, along the Wasatch Front, most of our pollution is our own. Our air is either very clean when weather conditions are such they are dispersing the pollution we generate, or we are relatively dirty during those times when we have stagnant air. Then we can have relatively high pollution. On average, we are sort of a moderately polluted area. But our air quality has been improving."

While Pope said he didn't want to overstate the importance of the the research, it adds "biological plausibility" that air pollution really is a risk factor for heart disease.

The pollution linked to cardiovascular deaths was particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns, also called PM2.5. It's created by combustion, usually by automobiles, manufacturing and coal-fired power plants.

The Environmental Protection Agency states the annual average level of PM2.5 particles in the air shouldn't exceed 15 micrograms per cubic meter. Pope found that each 10 micrograms-per-cubic-meter increase in fine-particulate air pollution raises by 18 percent risk of death from ischemic heart disease and by 13 percent risk of death from heart function changes.

Other co-authors are Dr. John J. Godleski of Harvard Medical School; Richard Burnett and Daniel Krewski of the University of Ottawa; George Thurston and Kazuhiko Ito of the New York University School of Medicine; and Michael Thun and Eugenia Calle of the American Cancer Society. The research was supported by a grant from the national Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a Health Effects Institute contract.

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E-MAIL: lois@desnews.com