People living close to Schiphol airport may have a higher risk of death due to cardiac arrhythmia because of the quantity of ultrafine particle pollution they breath in, the Telegraaf said on Monday, quoting an unpublished report by public health institute RIVM.

They may also have a heightened risk of other heart and artery illness and there could even be risks to pregnant women and their babies, the paper said. The report is due to be published later this week.

The researchers do not draw hard conclusions, the paper said, but use the word ‘possible’ to show that there are too many uncertainties to draw definitive conclusions.

The researchers compared the health records of people living in 31 local authority areas near Schiphol to those living in areas with much lower concentrations of ultrafine particles, which come from road traffic as well as aviation.

The research is a follow on from a report published by the RIVM three years ago, which concluded children living near Schiphol were more likely have breathing problems.