This week was World Asthma Day so we thought we’d take a deeper look into what is arguably the best-known health impact of air pollution (though readers of this blog will know there are many others). Indeed a recent study suggested the wide ranging impacts are in fact being under-estimated. But back to asthma…
Asthma + Lung UK explains that air pollution exposure can both trigger short-term symptoms and potentially lead to asthma and other respiratory conditions in the first place. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America agrees. However, some scholarly articles are less definitive about the impact of long-term exposure, preferring to speak of an association than a cause. This article has a great summary of why and how certain pollutants affect our breathing.
It’s an emergency
What has been well documented is the increased level of hospital admissions for asthma-related breathing difficulties when air pollution levels rise. The most prominent case is that of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah. It is estimated that 400 children a day are hospitalised in London for breathing difficulties, with air pollution a significant underlying cause of that. A major study in Bradford showed that air pollution was a factor in 35% of GP appointments and 49% of visits to A&E. Manchester has come under criticism by Mums for Lungs for its failure to tackle air pollution and resulting hospitalisations for children with breathing difficulties. We’re proud of some work that friend of this blog Dr Abi Whitehouse is doing in East London with children with severe asthma.
Asthma is often seen as something that primarily affects children (shockingly 1.1 million of them in the UK) but it can start in adulthood too. Louise was tested for it last year (thankfully turned out not to have it). Famously, the Major of London, Sadiq Khan was partly inspired to tackle air pollution by his own adult-onset asthma.
Unto the breach
Despite the Mayor’s efforts, air pollution is still too high in London. Below are our readings from the Brixton Breathe London sensor for the past month (green is average across London and orange is ‘our’ node). Over the past week in particular, we’ve seen huge spikes. The lower graphs show daily breaches of World Health Organisation levels - 20 for nitrogen dioxide and 8 for fine particulate matter in the last 30 days.
Louise spent some time with the EIFA school in Westminster last week, leading a workshop on air pollution with 9-14 year olds. We did a practical exercise, measuring pollution in three routes around the school. Unfortunately nitrogen dioxide levels were pretty high. The aim was not to scare the students (they were already pretty knowledgeable) but a difficult moment came when a young girl asked what should she do to avoid breathing it in. For gases like nitrogen dioxide, some mitigation can be achieved just by being a bit further away from the sources, so quieter streets and even the right side of the pavement - it all helps. It also gave an opportunity to discuss informally some of the proposals for Oxford Street, one of the routes the students took.
For a deeper dive, please see our Air Aware Labs article from last World Asthma Day (forgive the bad formatting - we’ve redesigned our website and older pages haven’t been spruced up!)