Research on Air Pollution
RESEARCH OF THE MONTH: UPDATED DEC. 23, 2019
Collected by Dr. Brian Moench
To read full report with sources visit our New Research page here.
Published in one of the most prestigious medical journals, this study of 4.5 million US veterans found that 99% of the deaths related to air pollution occur in populations where the air pollution meets the EPA’s standards.
This puts a definitive stamp on the concept that there is no safe level of air pollution, and that those standards, which are supposed to be updated every 5 years, are far too lax. Also, nine causes of death related to air pollution were identified, including causes not previous connected to air pollution—kidney disease, dementia, and type II diabetes.
This meta-analysis strengthens the evidence that PM2.5 is associated with hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.
More evidence that air pollution increases the risk of premature rupture of membranes, a disorder that puts both the baby and mother at risk for infection, and for premature birth.
This is a meta-analysis that demonstrates the hard evidence that air pollution contributes to gestational diabetes.
More evidence that ozone, once thought to be a weaker toxin than particulate pollution, is associated with preterm birth and still birth.
Short term exposure to PM2.5 and risk of hospital admission were found for several prevalent but rarely studied diseases, such as septicemia, fluid and electrolyte disorders, and acute and unspecified renal failure. Positive associations were also found between risk of hospital admission and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, and thromboembolism.
The authors of a study from the prestigious journal, Chest, describe the impacts of air pollution in nearly the exact terms that UPHE has been using for several years. Air pollution is the world’s fifth leading risk factor for death. Tissue damage may result directly from pollutant toxicity because fine and ultrafine particles can gain access to organs, or indirectly through systemic inflammatory processes. It can harm any organ in the body. Air pollution can harm everyone’s health, but some are more susceptible than others, either because of genetics, socioeconomics, race, or ethnicity. Public health is damaged as levels below those previously considered to be safe.