To study the effects of air pollution on human health, researchers from the University of Washington looked at how exposure to four main pollutants affected lung health in 7,071 adults aged 45 to 84 living in six US city areas. For an average of 10 years, they followed up on the participants by measuring levels of fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, black carbon and ozone outside their homes and carrying out CT scans to track the development of emphysema and lung decline. The results revealed that air pollution can be as damaging as a packet of cigarettes a day for nearly three decades!
Long-term exposure to all of the pollutants was linked to an increased percentage of emphysema, but ground-level ozone in particular lead to a decline in lung function. Ground-level ozone is produced when UV light reacts with pollutants from fossil fuels – a process that is accelerated by heatwaves. Most likely as a result of global warming, ozone has been increasing even though levels of air pollution are in decline due to successful efforts to reduce them.
For those participants living in areas with increased levels of ozone, the research found an increase in emphysema roughly the equivalent of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day for 29 years. The study has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Senior co-author Dr. Joel Kaufman, from the University of Washington, said:
We were surprised to see how strong air pollution’s impact was on the progression of emphysema on lung scans, in the same league as the effects of cigarette smoking, which is by far the best-known cause of emphysema.
Chronic lower respiratory disease – which includes emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic bronchitis, and asthma – is the third leading cause of death globally. The professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and epidemiology added:
We really need to understand what’s causing chronic lung disease, and it appears that air pollution exposures that are common and hard to avoid might be a major contributor.
The researchers believe ozone levels will continue to rise unless more steps are taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions and curb climate change. It’s not clear what level of air pollutants, if any, is safe for humans so the best solution is to try to eliminate and avoid it from happening at all.
