Study Finds Air Pollution Causes Millions of Asthma Attacks Globally Every Year

Air pollution may be to blame for up to 33 million emergency asthma attack visits to the hospital once a year, with half the visits calculable to occur in South and East Asian countries, notably India and China, a global study has found. Asthma is that the rifest chronic respiratory disorder worldwide, affecting about 358 million people, said researchers, including those from the University of York in the UK.

Countries like India and China is also tougher hit by the asthma attack burden as a result of they need massive populations and have a tendency to own fewer restrictions on factories belching smoke and different sources of pollution, they said. The findings, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, suggests automobile emissions and different styles of pollution is also a major supplier of significant asthma attacks.

“This is the first global study of the potential impacts of air pollution on serious asthma attacks that cause people to visit emergency rooms in hospitals around the world,” said Johan Kuylenstierna, Policy Director or the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) based at York.

The study found that 9 to 23 million annual emergency room (ER) visits globally (8 to 20 percent of total global asthma ER visits) is also triggered by ozone, a pollutant generated when automobile, station and different styles of emissions move with daylight. 5 to 10 million asthma emergency room visits every year (4 to 9 percent of total global asthma ER visits) were linked to fine particulate matter, small particles of pollution that can lodge deep in the lung’s airway tubes.

About half of its attackers ER visits attributed to dirty air were calculable to occur in South and East Asian countries, notably India and China, researchers said. Although the air within the United States of America is comparatively clean compared to South and East Asian countries, ozone and particulate matter were estimated to contribute 8 to 21 percent and 3 to 11 percent of asthma attack ER visits within the United States of America, severally, they said.

To estimate the worldwide levels of pollution, the researchers turned to atmospheric models, ground monitors and satellites equipped with remote-sensing devices. The researchers, as well as those from the University of Colorado Boulder and NASA within the United States of America, said a technique to cut back pollutants quickly would be to focus on emissions from cars, particularly in huge cities Such policies would not only help people with asthma and other respiratory diseases, but it would help everyone breathe a little easier, they said.

Also Read: Air Pollution Causing Major Harms to Children and Pregnant Women: WHO