Still unheard
We can't use literairy again
Every day, it seems, a new study comes out expanding the scientific understanding of the impacts of air pollution. We thought we’d round up some of the latest - hoping not to depress or scare our readers too much! We only went back a month to bring you this round up so we’re wondering if we need to do this more often…
The showstopper is this study in the Lancet, which now demonstrates that particulate matter is THE leading contributor to global disease burden, having overtaken high blood pressure, smoking and pregnancy complications. Having surveyed 88 environmental and health risk factors across 204 countries and territories, the Seattle-based researchers showed that air pollution contributed 8% to the loss of a year of full health (disability adjusted life years).
We then found a series of articles looking at specific impacts. For example, this study from the University of Bristol, covered in Air Quality News, linked particulate matter levels in pregnancy and childhood, with mental health outcomes for those children. Even modest increases in PM2.5 led to increased risks of psychotic experiences and depression. At the other end of life, this study from the University of Copenhagen, also covered in our favourite Air Quality News, looked at dementia. This found a clear increased risk, being careful to remove factors relating to road traffic noise that could have confounded it. It did, however, offer a positive note: that higher physical activity can reduce an individual’s risk.
With a heavy heart
The World Heart Federation has been challenging the assumption that most impacts of air pollution are respiratory. Its new report, covered in Health Policy Watch, demonstrated that 70% of the over 4 million deaths caused by outdoor air pollution are in fact caused by heart disease and stroke. This study from the US also showed how the stress and depression associated with air pollution can put older people at risk of cardiovascular disease. Black carbon was picked out by researchers in Sao Paulo as directly linked to increased heart risk and in particular cardiac fibrosis.
Digestive function has also been picked up by researchers from Detroit in this study in the British Medical Journal. The oxidative stress caused by particulate matter on our cells has been found to damage the liver, pancreas and small intestines. Furthermore, Italian researchers have shown the impact of long-term exposure to air pollution on auto-immune diseases, particularly rheumatoid arthritis.
Studying a population in depth can also bring wide-ranging insights. This study on the West Midlands quantified deaths and disease diagnoses (asthma, coronary heart disease, lung cancer and strokes) and showed how mortality would be reduced by 1.8% if the World Health Organisation guidelines were achieved. It also specifies an economic benefit of £3.2 billion over 20 years.
Would you like the bad news first or the good?
About time for some good news? Well some recent studies have shown how policy interventions have helped. For instance, this study has demonstrated a 13 percent reduction in asthma in children born in urban low emission zones. The Financial Times has also picked out some better news from the World Heart Federation’s work - namely that deaths in Europe from pollution-induced cardiovascular disease has reduced over 2010-19 as a result of policies to reduce emissions. It estimates a staggering 88,880 fewer deaths from heart disease and 34,317 fewer from strokes.
The C40 Cities initiative has also published a report on trends in its network of cities. Amongst the findings is that cities in parts of Asia have nearly halved their air pollution levels in just eight years, and European and North American cities are slowly improving. This network of cities represents half a billion residents across the world so these improvements are encouraging. Schools also come under the spotlight in this article from a group of researchers in Boston, demonstrating the impact of green buffers and other infrastructure to improve air quality for pupils and teachers.
Sublime to ridiculous
We thought we’d heard everything and then this German study popped up looking at the link between air pollution and voting outcomes. Higher air pollution on election day can shift the vote towards opposition parties, due to it inducing more negative emotions such as anger and worry. With two billion people voting for their leaders this year, this study could be the most significant of all!