Ambulance call-outs for heart attacks rise when air pollution is high, German study finds

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Ambulance call outs for heart attacks are more common on days when air pollution levels are high, according to new research being presented at Euroanaesthesia, the annual meeting of the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC), held online this year (17-19 Dec). Warmer weather, is however, associated with fewer heart attacks.

Fluctuations in air pollution levels and changing weather conditions are already known to affect health1,2.  Rises in air pollution, for example, can exacerbate heart and respiratory conditions.

A better understanding of these links could help hospitals better plan for climate-change related changes in weather conditions.

In the first study of its kind in Europe, Sabine Weingast and colleagues at the Department of Anaesthesiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany, looked at the links between call outs of EMS (ambulances assisted by a doctor) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and weather conditions and air pollution levels. ACS is umbrella term for heart attacks and unstable angina, which can lead to a heart attack. It is one of the most common causes of death in Germany and of EMS call outs, making it a good marker of pressure on the health service.

Almost a third (3,818) of the 12,073 EMS call outs in the Munich-Riem area of Munich from 2014 to 2017 were for ACS.

Factoring in data provided by the Munich German weather service revealed that call outs for ACS were more likely when air pollution was high. 

Rises in carbon monoxide, nitrogen monoxide and nitrogen dioxide were all associated with an increase in ACS. 

The analysis also revealed that there were fewer EMS call outs in higher temperatures, including fewer for ACS.

There was no link, however, between ACS and other weather conditions, such as hours of sunshine, wind speed and cloud cover.

The study’s authors say: “In line with studies in other countries, we found significant correlations between meteorological parameters, air pollution and EMS dispatches due to ACS.

“These findings show that weather and air pollution influence people’s health, medical resources and healthcare costs.”

Ms Weingast adds: “Studies into how hospitals can be better prepared for weather and air-pollution-driven fluctuations in demand are urgently needed.

“The results of these will allow them to allocate staff and other medical resources based on the weather forecast and help ensure patients get the care they need.

“More research on lowering levels of air pollution is also necessary.”

Ambulance call-outs for heart attacks rise wh | EurekAlert!
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Meat-eating causes 75,000 Chinese deaths a year through pollution

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Dietary shifts towards eating more meat causes 75,000 premature deaths a year in China through air pollution, a study shows. 

The study, published in the journal Nature Food, is the first to examine how changes in diets in China from 1980-2010 have increased emissions of agricultural ammonia (NH3) from fertilizer and livestock manure and to quantify the subsequent impacts on human health. 

Increases in meat production across the world over the past 50 years are most stark in East Asia, and particularly China. 

While more meat and less grain in diets is known to be bad for human health, this study is the first to quantify the impact of Chinese dietary changes through changes in agricultural practices that lead to poorer air quality.

Fine particulate matter air pollution poses a serious environmental risk to human health and is associated with a range of adverse health conditions, including respiratory conditions, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Agricultural ammonia (NH3) is emitted from nitrogen-based fertilizer and livestock manure that leaches off fields growing feed for livestock. This reacts with other airborne chemicals to form an important, toxic, component of fine particulate matter air pollution.

The research group was formed through the University of Exeter and the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Joint Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Resilience (ENSURE), established in 2018 to promote international, inter-disciplinary research addressing some of the most important environmental challenges facing societies across the world. 

The researchers analyzed the changing patterns of food production and consumption in China and found that meat production over the period 1980-2010 increased 433% from 15 to 80 megatons.

A relatively small proportion was attributed to rising population levels with the remaining 60 megatons a result of changing diets. 

In the same time period, agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions were found to have almost doubled, and the researchers estimated dietary changes were responsible for 63% of the rise, with the main driver being meat consumption. 

Based on this, they estimate that 5% of the 1.83 million Chinese deaths related to particle matter pollution in 2010 could be attributable to dietary changes, with the majority of that figure due to rising demand for meat. 

If Chinese diets were less meat-intensive, it would reduce agricultural ammonia emissions and reduce the harmful effects of air pollution on health for the entire population, the study found.

It estimated that if the average Chinese diet was replaced by the less meat-intensive diet recommended by the 2016 Chinese Dietary Guideline, ammonia emissions would decrease by 2.1Tg (teragrams) and 74,805 deaths could be avoided. 

Professor Xiaoyu Yan, Professor in Sustainable Energy Systems at the University of Exeter, said, “A top priority of China in the 1980s was to satisfy the people’s basic food demand.

“But now, as the problem of undernourishment has substantially decreased, a more sustainable path for production and consumption of food is urgently needed. The current trajectory of food choices in China needs to be altered to reduce its effects on both human and environmental health domestically and worldwide.” 

Co-author Professor Gavin Shaddick, Chair of Data Science and Statistics at the University of Exeter and Co-Director of the Joint Centre for Excellence in Environmental Intelligence, added, “We show that changing food consumption patterns can not only lead to improved health through more healthy diets but also has important co-benefits in terms of the environmental impacts of the agricultural sector and those additional effects on human health.” 

The researchers found there were great disparities between affluent and poorer members of society.

While the adverse health effects of eating more meat are largely experienced by those who can afford it, the effects due to increased levels of air pollution are experienced by those living on lower incomes in major agricultural regions such as Hebei and Henan. 

“These inequalities demonstrate an ethical dimension of meat consumption that deserves attention when developing public policy,” said Professor Yan. 

Meat-eating causes 75,000 Chinese deaths a year through pollution
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Specific components of air pollution identified as more harmful than others

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

New estimates can help reveal dangers of specific chemicals and inform policies to reduce the impact of air pollution on human health

Ammonium is one of the specific components of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), that has been linked to a higher risk of death compared to other chemicals found in it, according to a new study in the journal Epidemiology.

This finding stems from the largest global analysis of its kind, conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine as part of the Multi-City Multi-Country (MCC) Collaborative Research Network.

Particulate matter is one of the most dangerous air pollutants – a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid droplets which can be directly emitted from natural sources, such as forest fires, or when gases emitted from power plants, industries and automobiles react in the air.

PM2.5 is airborne particulate matter smaller than 2.5 µm in diameter. It is usually believed the black carbon part of PM2.5 (mainly stemming from motorised vehicles) was the most harmful one. However, the team’s analysis of data in 210 cities across 16 countries from 1999-2017 found human health risks from air pollution vary depending on the proportion of different components in PM2.5.

One of the most dangerous components is ammonium (NH4+), originating mostly from fertiliser use and livestock. The risk of excess mortality from PM2.5 roughly increased from 0.6% to 1% when the proportion of ammonium increased from 1% to 20% in the mix1.

Cities with a larger concentration of ammonium in the mix, including Japanese cities Aikita, Aomori, Sendai, and Canadian cities London Ontario and Sarnia were associated with higher health risks. Specific action aimed at the agricultural and farming sectors may speed up the reduction of the negative health impacts of air pollution.

Dr Pierre Masselot, Research Fellow at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and study lead, said: “We know black carbon found in fine particulate matter is a major public health issue. However, less is known about ammonium, which is created by chemical reaction of ammonia in the atmosphere and originates mainly from agricultural and farming practices. By using applied advanced statistical techniques to disentangle the relative effect of each component, we have revealed, surprisingly, that ammonium maybe more dangerous than other known PM2.5 components.”

Particulate matter is a major environmental risk factor to which the Global Burden of Diseases attributed between 4.1 and 5 million deaths worldwide in 2017. Evidence on short-term associations between exposure to fine particulate matter and total and cause-specific mortality are well established, although the risk varies across locations. To help reveal why this variation occurs, the study explores the role of the main chemical components of PM2.5 in this heterogeneity.

The team analysed the main components of PM2.5 including sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, black carbon, organic carbon, mineral dust and sea salt, and combined this with information on people’s age, GDP, poverty rate, temperature and green space, including trees in streets and gardens. Highly advanced statistical methods were used to model specific health effects across multiple locations.

The health risks associated to PM2.5 were found not to depend on the black carbon and organic carbon proportion and there was uncertainty about the role of sulfate. Health risks associated with PM2.5 were estimated to be lower in countries where nitrates were high in the concentration mix, such as UK, Germany and Scandinavia.

Dr Antonio Gasparrini, Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and senior author of the study, said: “The results from this study are important for future policies on air pollution. Identifying the most hazardous emission through state-of-the art modelling can help reveal which regions of the world to focus efforts on and how.

“Some PM is naturally present in the atmosphere, whereas others come from anthropogenic activities. Our work highlights the importance of ammonium as a harmful pollutant and specific strategies, such as increasing support for the agricultural sector to reduce emissions, could be vital for public health. However, we must remember that all these chemicals are hazardous. Reducing levels of air pollution across all sectors will improve health.”

The authors acknowledge limitations of the study including data availability, the focus on high income countries, and heterogeneity in effects across locations.

Specific components of air pollution identifi | EurekAlert!
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Air pollution can cause serious health consequences to more than 600 million people in South Asia

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

With another smoggy winter hanging over the vast and thickly populated Indo-Gangetic plains, there are fears of serious health consequences to more than 600 million people living in northern India and Nepal as well as in eastern Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Delhi, the biggest city in the region, showed an average air quality index (AQI) of 376 in November forcing the closure of schools that had just begun to reopen after COVID-19 restrictions.

Last year, the November AQI average for the region was 327 while for the same month in 2019 it was 312, indicating a rising trend that attracted the ire of the Supreme Court.

Delhi saw 11 ‘hazardous’ air quality days last month, the worst since the Central Pollution Control Board began the AQI measurement system in 2015. The hazardous category indicates an AQI of 301—500. The ‘good’ category is 0—50 which is followed by ‘moderate’ at 51—100 while anything in the 101—301 AQI range is considered unhealthy.

“We feel that nothing is happening… the pollution keeps increasing,” India’s chief justice N.V. Ramana said during a hearing on 2 December on deteriorating air quality in New Delhi and other north Indian cities. “If as many efforts as you (government) are claiming have been made, then why is pollution increasing?”

While wrangling goes on year after year over the source of the high levels of toxic pollutants in Delhi’s air and who is to be held responsible, there appears to be little public awareness of the consequences of inhaling particulate matter and other constituents of smoggy air.

“There is little awareness that most of the harm caused by air pollution is to the cardiovascular system — epidemiological studies have shown a strong association between air pollution and cardiovascular diseases including stroke.” Vipul Gupta, Chief of Neurointerventional Surgery Unit

Particulate matter that is smaller than 2.5 microns in size (PM 2.5) can increase risk of blockage of the carotid artery, the main blood vessel supplying the brain, says Gupta. “Even short-term exposure to PM 2.5 can lead to hospitalisation and death due to stroke.”

The WHO’s global air quality guidelines issued in September recommend tolerance levels for PM 2.5 at an annual average of five micrograms per cubic meter. Delhi’s average PM 2.5 levels in 2020 was 93 micrograms per cubic meter — 16.8 times the WHO limit — according to a paper released by the Council on Energy Environment and Water in June.

The Air Quality Life Index, released by the Energy Policy Institute, University of Chicago, in September, describes South Asia as “consistently the most polluted region with the people there seeing their lives shortened by an average of five years relative to what it would be if the region met the WHO guidelines”.

India alone has more than 510 million people living in the Indo-Gangetic plains who are on track to lose more than nine years of life expectancy if 2019 pollution levels persist, the report said.

For Bangladesh, residents may live 5.4 years longer if pollution levels meet the WHO guidelines, while residents of its capital city Dhaka could live 7.7 years longer. Those living in the polluted Terai region of Nepal stand to gain 6.7 years. In Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, residents may live five years longer if the WHO guidelines are followed.

“While the exact source of smog over the Indo-Gangetic plains is still being investigated, it is evident that residents of the region, including Kathmandu, are severely affected by respiratory and cardio-vascular ailments during winter,” says Bhupendra Das, a pollution researcher at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, in Potsdam and at Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu.

“The winter months see ‘temperature inversion’ which traps particle pollutants and prevents the dispersion,” he adds. “If the pollutants come from burning plastic waste they are likely to release chlorides, including dioxins and furans which are among the most toxic substances known to man.”

The WHO says particulates cause health problems according to source, size and physical and chemical properties and that the wide variability makes research difficult. Additionally, airborne particulate matter is constantly on the move and undergoes chemical and physical changes in the atmosphere.

Some of the complexity of studying PM 2.5 is evident in research conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology – Madras and published January in Nature Research that showed how pollution over Delhi is different from that in other cities for its high chloride content that was responsible for the haze, lowered visibility and health impacts.

The authors suggest that local concentrations of hydrochloric acid, emitted from burning plastic, contributed significantly to reduced visibility. “Our work implies that identifying and regulating gaseous hydrochloric acid emissions could be critical to improving visibility and human health in India.”

In 2019, the Indian government declared a “war on pollution” and launched a National Clean Air Programme with a declared goal of reducing particulate pollution by 20—30/ per cent by 2024 from 2017 levels, although the situation has only worsened since.

In August the local state government in Delhi began installing smog towers at key areas of the city to vacuum up particulate matter and pollutants. However, these 24-meter high structures have not performed at the claimed 80 per cent efficiency with readings for late November and December showing efficiency rates of less than 40 per cent.

In fact, one tower showed the filtered air bearing 300 milligrams of particulate matter per cubic meter — a far cry from the safe limit of five micrograms per cubic meter prescribed by the WHO, making little difference to the number of years of life expectancy that Delhi residents stand to lose.

Air pollution can cause serious health consequences to more than 600 million people in South Asia
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The tightened recommendations for air quality by WHO pose new challenges even to Finland

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution concentrations in Finland exceed most of the values of WHO’s new air quality guidelines. The situation is the worst with nitrogen dioxide from exhaust emissions of transport.

The World Health Organisation WHO has updated its air quality guidelines. The new guidelines were made to protect health. They are strict even for Finland, which is well known for its good air quality. For example, the concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in the largest Finnish cities can be even two or three times as high as the new WHO guideline values. In Finland, concentrations of fine particles, inhalable particles and ozone are also on a level which is harmful to human health.

To update the guidelines, WHO has analysed new research data on the health effects of air pollutants accumulated since 2005. The guidelines are meant for global use. WHO encourages highly polluted countries with a number of milestones.

Reaching the new guideline values is realistic in Finland

According to international comparisons, air quality in Finland is good, but air pollution can sometimes affect air quality even here.

“In Finland, the pursuit of these new, more stringent guideline values is still realistic. However, the concentrations of fine particles and ozone are heavily influenced by long range transport and reducing these concentrations can only be achieved through European and global emission control measures,” says Pia Anttila, Research Scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

On the other hand, road transport emissions such as nitrogen dioxide (i.e., exhaust gases) and inhalable particles (i.e., street dust), are a local problem. Their concentrations can be reduced by local measures. WHO guidelines are exceeded especially in busy urban environments. For example, the annual concentration values of nitrogen dioxide in the busiest streets of the Helsinki city centre are approximately three times higher than the guideline value.

“Emissions of exhaust gases are declining with new low-emission vehicles, but street dust will remain a problem also in the coming decades. Reducing particulate emissions from small-scale wood burning is also slow,” says Hanna Manninen, Head of Air Quality Unit at Helsinki Region Environmental Services HSY.

WHO also recommends measuring the quantitative concentrations of black carbon and particulate matter even though they have not yet been given guideline levels. In Finland, these have been measured for a long time at the background stations of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, at the research stations of the University of Helsinki, and in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area at the measurement stations of HSY. The concentrations of black carbon are increased especially by small-scale wood burning and emissions from old diesel cars.

More evidence of health effects of air quality at low concentration levels

As air quality has improved globally, it has been confirmed that air pollution affects health already at low concentrations.

“The updated WHO guidelines are based on strong evidence of the adverse health effects of long-term exposure when concentration guideline levels are exceeded. However, adverse health effects have also been observed at lower concentration levels than those in guidelines,” says Senior Researcher Otto Hänninen from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

The Finnish Meteorological Institute has compiled a report on the state of air quality in Finland in relation to the new WHO guidelines. The report is based on statutory monitoring results the quality of which has been assured. The monitoring is carried out by cities (partly in cooperation with industry) and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

The tightened recommendations for air quality by WHO pose new challenges even to Finland – Finnish Meteorological Institute
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Reduced vehicle emissions have saved thousands of lives

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Since 2008, the number of deaths caused by air pollution have been reduced by thousands in the United States as a result of decreasing vehicle emissions, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The improvements are the result of federal air pollution regulations and technological innovations by car manufacturers.

However, although emissions caused by large trucks have been significantly reduced, passenger light-duty vehicles such as pickup trucks or SUVs continue to contribute to air pollution in metropolitan areas.

“Recent reductions in vehicle emissions have yielded major health benefits, even though only small progress has been made on reducing their climate impact,” said study first author Ernani Choma, a research fellow in Harvard T.H. Chan School’s Department of Environmental Health. “Our results indicate that to achieve further public health and climate gains, even more stringent policies will be required.”

By using recent national emissions data, Choma and his colleagues modeled four scenarios for emissions in 2017: the actual emissions and three alternative scenarios in which the level of emissions was the same as in 2014, 2011, and 2008. 

The researchers found that deaths attributable to air pollution associated with vehicle emissions dropped from 27,700 in 2008 to 19,800 in 2017. If vehicles were still emitting at 2008 levels, they would have caused 48,200 deaths in 2017 (a 74 percent increase from 2008 to 2017).

Although there was a significant progress in reducing emissions from heavy-duty trucks, less progress was done with passenger light-duty vehicles such as cars, SUVs, or pickup trucks. According to the scientists, emissions from these vehicles caused two-thirds of public health burden from transportation-related air pollution in 2017.

“If the trends of increased population density with an aging population, and a shift to larger passenger vehicles continue, emissions, especially in urban areas, will continue to become more harmful and it will be harder to achieve further public health gains by small incremental improvements in new vehicles,” said study senior author John Spengler, a professor of Environmental Health and Human Habitation at Harvard.

“Our study findings strengthen the case for policies at the municipal level that encourage electric vehicles while discouraging conventional gasoline vehicles and for making our cities more accessible for non-motorized transportation such as biking or walking.”

The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Reduced vehicle emissions have saved thousands of lives • Earth.com
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Chronic exposure to air pollution may increase risks for ICU admission or death among COVID-19 patients, study finds

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who had been chronically exposed in their neighborhoods to higher particulate matter — such as smoke, soot, and dirt — had increased risks for admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and death compared to those without such exposure, Mount Sinai-led researchers reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicineon December 8.

The finding adds to our understanding about environmental factors that increase the risks of COVID-19. The researchers noted that chronic air pollution exposure can alter the pulmonary immune system, may increase systemic inflammation, and can be associated with increased risk for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. COVID-19 infections and deaths have also disproportionately occurred among Black, Latinx, and Indigenous populations, as well as among individuals with risk factors based on sex, age, and existing comorbid diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the critical role of the environment on health disparities. These data suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution, even at concentrations below U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulatory standards, is associated with higher COVID-19 morbidity and mortality amongst hospitalized patients,” said corresponding author Alison Lee, MD, MS, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine), and Pediatrics, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “Critically, air pollution is a modifiable risk factor. Policies to reduce air pollution must be considered a necessary public health measure, especially in communities that are disproportionately susceptible to air pollution’s deleterious effects.”

A team of researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of more than 6,500 COVID-19 patients admitted to seven New York City hospitals with ethnically diverse patient populations — including Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai Queens, NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens — amid the first peak of the pandemic from March to August 2020. The researchers estimated exposure levels to pollutants including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and black carbon at the residential addresses of the patients at the time of admission. The team then assessed patient outcomes including mortality, ICU admission, and intubation. They found that chronic exposure to particulate matter, even at levels below current regulatory thresholds, was associated with an 11 percent higher risk of mortality and 13 percent higher risk of admission to the ICU. Exploratory analyses suggested that younger people of color may be particularly susceptible.

The study was developed through participation in the COVID-19 Unit for Research at Elmhurst (CURE-19) partnership, an initiative by Mount Sinai’s Arnhold Institute for Global Health and NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst and Queens to research the global pandemic and root causes of health disparities in New York City.

“There is a lot we still don’t know about coronavirus, and that is why initiatives like the CURE-19 partnership are of utmost importance in the fight against this pandemic and our continued recovery,” said co-author Stanley Pierre, MD, MPA, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens Patient Safety Coordinator and Director of the Clinical Centers of Excellence Development Program. “Being able to better understand what and how environmental factors play a role in New Yorkers’ health and COVID-19-associated risks not only allow us to better treat patients in the long-term, but also give us the opportunity to advocate for broader changes that can help prevent serious illness in the future.”

In addition to researchers from CURE-19, experts from Columbia University and the University of California, Berkeley contributed to the study. It was supported by grants from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01MD013310), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (P30ES023515, P30ES009089), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P2CHD058486), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (K23HL135349).

Chronic exposure to air pollution may increase risks for ICU admission or death among COVID-19 patients, study finds — ScienceDaily
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Does air pollution reduce the benefits of physical activity on the brain?

Posted on December 9, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

A new study shows that people who do vigorous physical activities, like jogging or playing competitive sports, in areas with higher air pollution may show less benefit from that exercise when it comes to certain markers of brain disease. The markers examined in the study included white matter hyperintensities, which indicate injury to the brain’s white matter, and gray matter volume. Larger gray matter volumes and smaller white matter hyperintensity volumes are markers of overall better brain health. The research is published in the December 8, 2021, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Vigorous exercise may increase exposure to air pollution and prior studies have shown adverse effects of air pollution on the brain,” said study author Melissa Furlong, PhD, of the University of Arizona in Tucson. “We did show that physical activity is associated with improved markers of brain health in areas with lower air pollution. However, some beneficial effects essentially disappeared for vigorous physical activity in areas with the highest levels of air pollution. That’s not to say people should avoid exercise. Overall, the effect of air pollution on brain health was modest — roughly equivalent to half the effect of one year of aging, while the effects of vigorous activity on brain health were much larger — approximately equivalent to being three years younger.”

The study looked at 8,600 people with an average age of 56 from the UK Biobank, a large biomedical database. People’s exposure to pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter, which are particles of liquids or solids suspended in the air, was estimated with land use regression. A land use regression study models air pollution levels based on air monitors and land use characteristics like traffic, agriculture and industrial sources of air pollution.

Participants’ air pollution exposures were categorized into four equal groups, from lowest air pollution to highest.

Each person’s physical activity was measured for one week with a movement-detecting device they wore called an accelerometer. Then researchers characterized their physical activity patterns depending on how much vigorous physical activity they got, ranging from none to 30 minutes or more per week.

People who got the greatest amounts of vigorous physical activity each week, on average, had 800 cm3 gray matter volume, compared to an average of 790 cm3 gray matter volume in people who did not get any vigorous exercise. Researchers showed that air pollution exposures did not alter the effects of physical activity on gray matter volume. However, researchers did find air pollution exposures altered the effects of vigorous physical activity when looking at white matter hyperintensities. After adjusting for age, sex and other covariates, researchers found that vigorous physical activity reduced white matter hyperintensities in areas of low air pollution, but these benefits were not found among those in high air pollution areas.

“More research is needed, but if our findings are replicated, public policy could be used to address people’s exposure to air pollution during exercise,” Furlong said. “For example, since a significant amount of air pollution comes from traffic, promoting running or bicycling along paths far from heavy traffic may be more beneficial.”

A limitation of the study is that it used air pollution values from one year only, and levels may vary from year to year.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the Arizona Department of Health Services, and the McKnight Brain Research Foundation. The study used data made available by the UK Biobank.

Does air pollution reduce the benefits of physical activity on the brain? — ScienceDaily
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