Bad air quality has already been associated with numerous conditions, from brain cancer and mental health issues to miscarriage and more. The list is quite long now, and it’s only getting longer. A new study now suggests that the gravity of the situation is much worse than we thought, with every cell in the body possibly affected by air pollution. The research findings indicate that the number of hospital admissions rises when air pollution increases. The analysis has been published in BMJ.
Co-author of the study, Prof Francesca Dominici, of Harvard University, said:
The drive behind [the new research] was to do the most comprehensive study ever conducted at looking at all possible causes of hospitalization that could be [linked] to exposure to fine particulate matter.
The Research
- Dominici and colleagues analyzed over 95m insurance claims (of Americans enrolled in the Medicare program) made between 2000 and 2012 by hospital inpatients aged 65 or older.
- Next, they inspected the quality of the air (by home zip code) for each patient two days before going to the hospital. They focused on levels of PM2.5 (dangerous fine particulate matter produced by power stations and vehicles).
- Then, they compared all the data – the air pollution levels and medical records – for each patient individually. Since each patient is its own reference, this approach essentially took into account other factors such as age, obesity, and socioeconomic status.
The Results
- There was a link between short-term exposure to pollutants and adverse health conditions that require hospitalization.
The analysis indicates that even a minuscule average rise in PM2.5 of 1 microgram per cubic meter over two days is linked to an additional 107 older people per billion being hospitalized with either heart failure (63.5%), septicemia, Parkinson’s disease, or urinary tract infections.
That amount doesn’t seem like much, but considering the level of PM2.5 rises one microgram per cubic meter over 122 days in each year within each zip code. Meaning, extra people are going to the hospital every day for a third of the year that wouldn’t have had to if there was no air pollution.
Hospital visits aside, the analysis also revealed that short-term increases in PM2.5 are linked to a rise of 632 deaths annually on average, as well as around $100m in costs for post-acute care and inpatients. The one microgram per cubic meter rise over two days trend even applied when air quality was within the “safety” limits set by the World Health Organization.
The research suggests that PM2.5’s ill health effects are not restricted within individual organs. First author of the study, Yaguang Wei, said:
It has a more systemic effect on multiple pathophysiological processes such as inflammation, infection, and water-electrolyte balance.
Although the study doesn’t provide proof that air pollution causes sickness, it does add weight to the urgency for air quality guidelines to be reviewed. Dr. Ioannis Bakolis, of King’s College London, who was not involved in the study, said:
These guidelines need to be revised, as even the 9% of the population that lives within the WHO limits may be substantially affected by air pollution concentrations and its associated costs, according to the findings of the study.
Now it could be useful to conduct a study with young people not enrolled in Medicare as well.
But really, how many studies are researchers going to have to present until we begin to see real action? Whether it’s one extra person just getting sick or millions dying – in the end, if air quality improves, it will only benefit the world.
