As Delhi gasps for fresh air and doctors here equate bad air with new tobacco, a new research from King’s College London has just substantiated the fear as it warned that high air pollution can cause extra heart attacks, higher rate of stroke and new asthma cases particularly in children.
The study Personalising the Health Impacts of Air Pollution, analysed data from British cities, included London, Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and Southampton.
The study said, “Each year on average, higher air pollution days in London are responsible for 87 more cardiac arrests outside hospital than lower air pollution days.” The researchers found that roadside air pollution in Birmingham stunted lung growth in children by 7.7 per cent, while cutting air pollution in London by one-fifth would increase children’s lung capacity by around 4%.
Worldwide, an awareness of the dangers of air pollution is growing. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that air pollution kills 7 million people each year — equivalent to 13 deaths every minute.
Globally, says the WHO, more than 90 per cent of children under 15 breathe air that puts their health at serious risk. The young are especially susceptible, because their lungs are still developing and their breathing is faster than adults’, so they take in more pollutants relative to their body weight. One of the most common ailments that results is asthma. Poorer children are still more vulnerable, since their schools tend to be near busy roads.
Dr Prashant Saxena, Head Of Department , pulmonology and sleep medicine, Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, Saket said, “there is no doubt that poor air quality poses a great threat to survival. We have seen a substantial increase in the number of patients complaining of respiratory diseases like COPD, asthma, bronchitis and their flare-ups.
“There is also an increase in cardiac problems like heart attacks and chest pain etc. Associated allergic problems like nasal discharge/sneezing, headache, eye burning, sore throat etc have also been observed, especially in children. Moreover, maternal exposure can cause fatal growth retardation, fatal deaths and retarded growth of child post-delivery.”
Dr Dharminder Nagar, Paras Healthcare added, “Statistics have repeatedly proved that Delhi’s air is indeed the most toxic in the world followed with the unprecedented public health emergency declared in Delhi this year too. Worrisomely, over 660 million Indians live in areas that flouting the standards of safe exposure to PM 2.5. It is evident that air pollution has emerged as the single most hazardous threat to the health of Indians — especially children whose underdeveloped lungs put them at severe risk of respiratory disorders.
Exposure to toxicants in the air is not only associated with respiratory disorders but has wide ranging and dreadful implications including increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric complications, skin diseases, as well as cancer.
Air pollution is also considered as an environmental risk factor in the incidence and progression of diseases such as asthma, lung cancer, autism, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In short, air is the new tobacco”, Dr Nagar said.