Mandakini Gupta, New Delhi: Here's something to worry about if you live close to heavy traffic. You might have learnt to turn a deaf ear to the constant honking of vehicles, but something more serious and which has far reaching consequences is the air pollution.

You may be exposed to the danger of developing heart disease with constant exposure to polluted air. Maya Chaudhuri's house faces a congested traffic-laden road in the capital. Over the past one-year the family has learned to turn a deaf ear to all the chaos and noise coming from the main road.

But noise pollution might not be their only problem. A first of its kind study conducted in Germany says that people who live within 50 metres of heavy traffic are 63 per cent more likely to develop heart disease than those who live 200 metres away.

More than 4,000 people took part in the study which found that the extremely high levels of air pollution hardens the walls of the arteries, which could lead to heart disease and stroke.

"The smoke from the cars and smoking almost works on the same principal. They cause inflammation in the arteries much like smoking. And the situation could be worse in India where a lot of people already have diabetes or hypertension and the pollution will accelerate the process,” said Dr R R Kasliwal, Apollo.

Hardening and narrowing of the arteries, blocks blood-flow and are responsible for more than 7 million deaths worldwide every year.

The situation can be improved if cars are made to undergo a strict pollution check, which will ensure that fumes are less toxic.

But if your house is next to a busy road like this one then moving out is not really an option. So you could start off by keeping your windows and doors closed during the day, get thick curtains for the windows facing the road. This should keep the pollutants out. At least for a while and get a air purifier this should act as a temporary solution.