Air Pollution Linked To Early Death Heart Attack Survivors, Study Shows

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution increases the chances of heart attack survivors dying early, research has shown.

Higher levels of tiny sooty particles in the air led to more deaths among patients after they had left hospital.

Experts monitored more than 154,000 patients treated for heart attacks and angina for an average period of 3.7 years.

Exposure to man-made pollutants increased death rates among survivors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) by 12%, the scientists found.

This meant that over the study period there were almost 5,000 extra deaths.

The research focused on tiny particles called PM2.5s that measure no more than 2.5 micrometres across – 30 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Road vehicles, factories and power stations are the main man-made sources of the particles, which lodge deep in the lungs.

The results are published today in the European Heart Journal.

Author Dr Cathryn Tonne, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “We found that for every 10 microgram per cubic metre increase in PM2.5 there was a 20% increase in the death rate.

via Air Pollution Linked To Early Death Heart Attack Survivors, Study Shows.

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FAQ: What filters do I need for the X-treme™ masks?

Posted on February 19, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

What filters do I need for the X-treme™ masks?

Essentially the filters in the X-treme™ function in the same way as the City™ and Sportsta™ filters do. The X-treme™ mask for sports utilises the particulate filtration ability of the Sportsta™ and the X-treme™ mask for urban use, uses activated carbon as its filtration medium.

For more FAQ,  go to Respro® Mask FAQ

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Links between ozone levels and cardiac arrest analyzed

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Researchers at Rice University in Houston have found a direct correlation between out-of-hospital cardiac arrests and levels of air pollution and ozone. Their work has prompted more CPR training in at-risk communities.

At the same AAAS symposium, Rice environmental engineer Daniel Cohan discussed how uncertainties in air-quality models might impact efforts to achieve anticipated new ozone standards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Given that the American Lung Association has ranked Houston eighth in the United States for high-ozone days, the Rice researchers set out to see if there is a link between ambient ozone levels and cardiac arrest. Ensor is a professor and chair of Rice’s Department of Statistics, and Raun is a research professor in Rice’s Department of Statistics.

For the new study, the authors analyzed eight years’ worth of data drawn from Houston’s extensive network of air-quality monitors and more than 11,000 concurrent out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) logged by Houston Emergency Medical Services (EMS). They found a positive correlation between OHCAs and exposure to both fine particulate matter (airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrograms) and ozone.

The researchers found that a daily average increase in particulate matter of 6 micrograms per day over two days raised the risk of OHCA by 4.6 percent, with particular impact on those with pre-existing (and not necessarily cardiac-related) health conditions. Increases in ozone level were similar, but on a shorter timescale: Each increase of 20 parts per billion over one to three hours also increased OHCA risk, with a peak of 4.4 percent. Peak-time risks from both pollutants rose as high as 4.6 percent. Relative risks were higher for men, African-Americans and people over 65.

continue reading: Links between ozone levels and cardiac arrest analyzed.

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Chinese struggle through ‘airpocalypse’ smog

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Hu Li’s heart sank when she realised that she could gauge how close she was to home by the colour of the air. Driving 140 kilometres from Tianjin City to Beijing last week, she held her breath as the chalky-white horizon became a charcoal grey haze. The 39-year-old businesswoman has lived in Beijing for a decade, and this past month, she said, brought the worst air pollution she has ever seen. It gave her husband a hacking cough and left her seven-year-old daughter housebound. “I’m working here and my husband’s working here, so we have no choice,” she said. “But if we had a choice, we’d like to escape from Beijing.”

A prolonged bout of heavy pollution over the last month, which returned with a vengeance for a day last week – called the “airpocalypse” or “airmageddon” by internet users – has fundamentally changed the way that Chinese people think about their country’s toxic air. The event was worthy of its namesake. On one day, pollution levels were 30 times higher than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Flights were cancelled. Roads were closed. One hospital in east Beijing reported treating more than 900 children for respiratory issues. Bloomberg found that for most of January, Beijing’s air was worse than that of an airport smoking lounge.

The smog’s most threatening aspect is its high concentration of PM 2.5 – particulate matter that is small enough to lodge deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, causing respiratory infections, asthma, lung cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and possibly damaging children’s development. The WHO has estimated that outdoor air pollution accounts for two million deaths per year, 65% of them in Asia. Yet the smog has become more than a health hazard in China – it has become a symbol of widespread dissatisfaction with the government’s growth-first development strategy. Feelings of resigned helplessness have given way to fear, anger, and society-wide pressure to change the status quo.

The Lunar New Year, which came last Sunday, usually coincides with clear blue skies – an estimated 9m cars depart from the capital, and its emissions-spewing factories shut down as workers go on holiday. Yet the smog came back with a vengeance on Wednesday. Environmental authorities sent text messages to Beijing residents urging them to mitigate the pollution by refraining from the long-held holiday tradition of lighting fireworks. According to state media, they took heed. Fireworks sales fell 37% compared with last year.

via Chinese struggle through ‘airpocalypse’ smog | World news | The Observer.

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Air Pollution Tracked By Planes Means Better Satellite Air-Quality Monitoring

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Anyone who’s ever driven down Interstate 5 in central California’s Kern County knows about the smell. The one that penetrates cars despite closed vents and windows. Wafting from an adjacent cattle ranch, the largest on the West Coast, the well-known odor comes from the ammonia all those cows produce.

California’s Central Valley, which spans I-5, regularly has some of the worst air pollution in the United States because of its unfortunate combination of geography and agriculture. It is ringed by mountains that trap bad air like water in a bathtub, and it is lined with fertile soils that produce much of the country’s vegetables, fruits, nuts and meat, along with pollutants.

The region’s unique pollution profile drew the attention of NASA scientists, who recently sent two research planes on swooping arcs from Bakersfield to Fresno on a mission to improve air-quality monitoring in the United States.

Continue reading: Air Pollution Tracked By Planes Means Better Satellite Air-Quality Monitoring | LiveScience.

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Air pollution fifth leading cause of death in India: Study

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air pollution is the fifth leading cause of death in India after high blood pressure, indoor air pollution, tobacco smoking and poor nutrition, with about 620,000 premature deaths occurring from air pollution-related diseases. Like China, India faces an unprecedented public health crisis due to air pollution, the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) analysis of government data and the Global Burden of Disease report’s data on India has shown.

The green think tank released its own assessment and the global study’s India specific data on Wednesday warning that the number of premature deaths due to air pollution had increased six fold over the last 10 years.

Air pollution is now the seventh leading cause behind the loss of about 18 million healthy years of life in India due to illness. It comes after indoor air pollution, tobacco smoking, high blood pressure, childhood underweight, low nutritional status, and alcohol use.

CSE’s own assessment of the air pollution data generated by the government painted the grim facts that are leading to the public health crisis.

“Close to half of cities are reeling under severe particulate pollution while newer pollutants like nitrogen oxides, ozone and- air toxics are worsening the public health challenge,” CSE estimates say. Half of the urban population breathes air laced with particulate pollution that has exceeded the safety standards. As much as one third of urban population is exposed to critical level of particulate pollution. Smaller cities are among the most polluted in the country.

The data is a damning indictment of India’s supposed growing urban regions. Out of the 180 cities that are monitored for only two towns — Malapuram and Pathanamthitta — in Kerala meet the low pollution norms (pollution levels remaining at 50% below the standard) for all pollutants.

About 78% cities (141 cities) exceed the standard set for particulate matter of size below 10 microns (PM10). As many as 90 cities have critical levels of PM10 and of this, 26 cities have most critical levels of PM10, exceed the standard by more than 3 times. Gwalior, West Singbhum, Ghaziabad, Raipur, and Delhi are top five critically polluted cities.

via Air pollution fifth leading cause of death in India: Study – The Economic Times.

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Boris Johnson’s sticky pollution solution shown to be a £1.4m failure

Posted on February 15, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Boris Johnson has spent £1.43m “gluing” pollution from vehicles to London’s roads using a method that air-quality experts have found does not work.

In 2010 Transport for London started a trial using dust suppressants – calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) – on some of the city’s dirtiest roads and industrial sites. The mayor said at the time it was a “wonderful contraption that tackles air quality head on” and that he expected it would have an immediate impact on air quality in the most polluted areas of central London. The process was extended into 2012 to tackle potential increases in pollution caused by the Olympic Games lanes.

But a study by scientists at King’s College London of the effectiveness of the glue at five major roads over the last two years showed it is ineffective at tackling PM10s – tiny particulates that have been shown to be harmful to human health – from car, van and lorry emissions. Most PM10 pollution is caused by traffic, in particular diesel fumes.

Benjamin Barratt, a lecturer in air quality science at King’s, said: “The bottom line is [the gluing method] is not going to work in many of the sites in London where the problem is purely down to traffic, but there are other locations in London where we have severe PM10 problems relating to industrial activity and it has been shown to have a role in those locations.”

A member of the mayor’s team said in 2011 that the scheme had cost £905,000 in its first year, and although the total cumulative cost has not been publicly available subsequently, it has been running since then.

Green party London assembly member Jenny Jones said: “Boris Johnson’s attempt at a quick fix of gluing pollution to London’s polluted highways such as Marylebone Road has proved to be a failure and a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

The finding comes as Johnson announced a package of measures to improve the capital’s air, which is among Europe’s worst. He called these new moves a “game-changing moment” – despite simultaneously watering down a pollution charging scheme.Johnson said London would establish an “ultra-low emission zone” to tackle air quality problems, but did not offer specific details as to what it would entail, other than outlining his “vision” that one day most or all cars in central London would be electric or hybrid vehicles.

“Creating the world’s first big-city ultra-low emission zone has the potential to be a game-changing moment in the quality of life of our great capital,” the mayor said. “My vision is a central zone where almost all the vehicles running during working hours are either zero- or low-emission. This would deliver incredible benefits in air quality and stimulate the delivery and mass use of low-emission technology.”

He said all buses in central London would use hybrid engines by 2020, zero-emission taxis would be encouraged and that he was giving £20m for London boroughs to address the worst pollution blackspots.

continue reading… Boris Johnson’s sticky pollution solution shown to be a £1.4m failure | Environment | The Guardian.

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Beijing’s air quality rated ‘hazardous’ as smog returns to eastern regions

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Respro® UK Ltd

Air quality in Beijing turned “hazardous” while pollution in Shanghai was rated unhealthy as hazy weather was forecast across eastern regions.

Concentrations of PM2.5, fine air particulates that pose the greatest health risk, rose to 297 micrograms per cubic metre at 12pm near Tiananmen Square from an average of 195 in the past 24 hours, Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Centre reported. The rating is the second-worst behind “severely polluted”.

The US Embassy also graded air quality in Beijing as “hazardous,” reporting its reading of PM2.5 at 344 micrograms per cubic metre at 12pm. The airborne pollutants, which are smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter, can penetrate deep into lungs and enter the blood stream. The World Health Organisation recommends average 24-hour exposures of less than 25.

Pollution in Beijing rose to a record on January 12 with PM2.5 surging as high as 993, sparking criticism of the government’s environmental management. The capital’s daily average last month, of 196, was similar to that in an airport smoking lounge. Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called for patience as authorities work to reduce emissions.

Sales of fireworks in Beijing have fallen significantly during the current Lunar New Year holiday as residents exercised restraint to help ward off smog, Xinhua News Agency reported on February 10, citing Zhou Zhengyu, deputy secretary-general of the municipal government.

The level of PM2.5 as measured by the US Consulate in Shanghai was 79 at 12pm and air quality was “unhealthy,” according to a post on the consulate’s Twitter feed. Haze reappeared yesterday in some eastern regions, reducing visibly to less than 1 kilometre, the China Meteorological Administration said.

via Beijing’s air quality rated ‘hazardous’ as smog returns to eastern regions | South China Morning Post.

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