Exposure to air pollution during the first two years of life is associated with worse attention capacity in children

Posted on April 18, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

A growing body of research shows that exposure to air pollution, especially during pregnancy and childhood, may have a negative impact on brain development. Now a study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) has found that exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) during the first two years of life is associated with poorer attention capacity in children aged 4 to 8, especially in boys. NO2 is a pollutant that comes mainly from traffic emissions.

The study, published in Environment International, shows that higher exposure to NO2 was associated with poorer attentional function in 4- to 6-year-olds, with increased susceptibility to this pollutant observed in the second year of life. This association persisted at an age of 6 to 8 years of age only in boys, with a slightly greater susceptibility period from birth to 2 years of age.

The researchers used data from 1,703 women and their children from the INMA Project birth cohorts in four Spanish regions. Using the home address, the researchers estimated daily residential exposure to NO2 during pregnancy and the first 6 years of childhood. In parallel, they assessed the attentional function (the ability to choose what to pay attention to and what to ignore) at 4–6 years and 6–8 years, and working memory (the ability to temporarily hold information) at 6–8 years, using validated computerized tests.

A previous INMA study reported that exposure to NO2 during pregnancy and childhood was associated with impaired attentional function in children at 4–5 years of age. The present study found that:

  • Higher exposure to NO2 between 1.3 and 1.6 years of age was associated with higher hit reaction time standard error, an indicator of speed consistency, in the attentional function test at 4–6 years of age.
  • Higher exposure to NO2 between 1.5 and 2.2 years of age was associated with more omission errors.
  • Higher exposure to NO2 between 0.3 and 2.2 years was associated with higher hit reaction time standard error at 6–8 years only in boys.
  • No associations were found between higher exposure to NO2 and working memory in children aged 6 to 8 years.

“These findings underline the potential impact of increased traffic-related air pollution on delayed development of attentional capacity and highlight the importance of further research into the long-term effects of air pollution in older age groups,” explains Anne-Claire Binter, last author of the study and postdoctoral researcher at ISGlobal.

Attentional function is crucial for the development of the brain’s executive functions, which manage and control actions, thoughts and emotions to achieve a goal or purpose. “The prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain responsible for executive functions, develops slowly and it is still maturing during pregnancy and childhood,” adds Binter. This makes it vulnerable to exposure to air pollution, which has been linked in animal studies to inflammation, oxidative stress, and impaired energy metabolism in the brain.

“In boys, the association between exposure to NO2 and attentional function may last longer because their brains mature more slowly, which could make them more vulnerable,” she points out. To understand this better, future studies should follow people over time to see how age and gender affect the relationship between air pollution and attention span, especially in older age groups.

In conclusion, “this study suggests that early childhood, up to the age of 2, seems to be a relevant period for implementing preventive measures,” says Binter. “Even a small effect at the individual level from relatively low levels of exposure, as in this study, can have large consequences at the population level. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution is therefore a determinant of the health of future generations.”

More information: Kellie L.H.A. Crooijmans et al, Nitrogen dioxide exposure, attentional function, and working memory in children from 4 to 8 years: Periods of susceptibility from pregnancy to childhood, Environment International (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2024.108604

Journal information: Environment International 

Provided by Barcelona Institute for Global Health 

via https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-04-exposure-air-pollution-years-life.html

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The Toxic Air We Breathe: Greenpeace Maps Africa’s Air Pollution Hotspots

Posted on March 28, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa have emerged as Africa’s most polluted countries in terms of air pollution disease burden, with profound health consequences for Africa’s people and exacerbated impacts on climate change, a report prepared by Greenpeace Africa and Greenpeace MENA can now reveal.

Titled “Major Air Polluters in Africa Unmasked,” the report investigates the biggest human sources of air pollution across Africa, focusing on major industrial and economic sectors, including the fossil fuel industry. Every year in Africa,  as many as 1.1 million premature deaths have been linked to air pollution.

Dr Aidan Farrow, Senior Scientist at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories said, “In many parts of Africa a lack of air quality monitoring [1] has allowed pollution to remain hidden. However, there is abundant evidence that African nations face a serious public health crisis from air pollution. The root causes of this crisis are the air pollutant emitters. Data from satellites and even fuel sales in each country allow scientists to investigate emission sources. These data point towards the biggest hotspots, the biggest contributions to pollution and who is responsible for them. The data are clear, areas like Mpumalanga in South Africa, where coal burning for electricity is a major industry, really stand out.” 

The report found that Africa is home to some of the worst nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide hotspots in the world, all of which are primarily linked to thermal power plants. The report also found that Eskom, a public utility company that has the government of South Africa as its sole shareholder, operates many of the most polluting plants in South Africa.

Key findings compiled by the report include:

  • Exposure to air pollution is the second leading risk factor for death in Africa (HEI 2022), and achieving World Health Organization guidelines could result in significant gains in life expectancy.
  • Pollutant emissions lead to a considerable number of premature deaths in Africa. Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa consistently exhibit large disease burdens, with the highest mortality linked to fossil fuel air pollution in these nations
  • Six of the world’s ten largest NO2 emission hotspots identified were found in Africa, all in South Africa.
  • Of the ten largest SO2 point sources identified in Africa, nine are thermal power stations, and one is linked to a smelter complex in Mali. Four of the power plants are located in South Africa owned by ESKOM, two in Morocco and Egypt, and one in Zimbabwe.
  • Health impact studies suggest that life expectancy could be improved by up to 3 years in some African nations if air quality met WHO guidelines.

According to the World Health Organisation, exposure to air pollution, including nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, can cause both short- and long-term health problems. These include heart and lung diseases, pregnancy problems, kidney issues and cancer.

“We urgently call upon North African governments to adopt the report’s recommendations particularly the installation of air quality monitors and ensuring access to real-time data. This proactive approach empowers affected communities to address their governments for action, to take charge of their well-being, make informed decisions, and collectively work towards cleaner and healthier environments” stresses Sarra Ben Abdallah, Greenpeace MENA Campaigner. 


“For too long, the people of Mpumalanga have borne the burden of South Africa’s coal dependency, not just in the air we breathe but in the opportunities we’re denied. The pollution from coal plants like those operated by Sasol in our region has not only tarnished our health, leading to failed health assessments and chronic diseases, but it has also clouded our future, leaving us jobless as companies opt to hire from outside, citing our ‘unfitness’ for work. This report by Greenpeace sheds light on our struggle, linking every breath of polluted air to the systemic injustice that fuels unemployment and health disparities in Secunda,” said Fana Sibanyoni, an activist from the Mpumalanga region.

The report presents recommendations to address the critical issue of air pollution in Africa, emphasising the need for investment in clean technologies, especially in the energy sector. International institutions share a significant responsibility in sustainably developing the African continent.

Many of the causes of air pollution, such as the combustion of oil, coal, and gas, are also sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Policies aimed at reducing air pollution, therefore, offer a win-win strategy for both climate and health.

The Toxic Air We Breathe: Greenpeace Maps Africa’s Air Pollution Hotspots   – Greenpeace Africa
The Toxic Air We Breathe: Greenpeace Maps Africa’s Air Pollution Hotspots  
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Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, research finds

Posted on March 19, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

Almost all countries failing to meet mark for PM2.5, tiny particles expelled by vehicles and industry that can cause health problems

Only seven countries are meeting an international air quality standard, with deadly air pollution worsening in places due to a rebound in economic activity and the toxic impact of wildfire smoke, a new report has found.

Of 134 countries and regions surveyed in the report, only seven – Australia, Estonia, Finland, Grenada, Iceland, Mauritius and New Zealand – are meeting a World Health Organization (WHO) guideline limit for tiny airborne particles expelled by cars, trucks and industrial processes.

The vast majority of countries are failing to meet this standard for PM2.5, a type of microscopic speck of soot less than the width of a human hair that when inhaled can cause a myriad of health problems and deaths, risking serious implications for people, according to the report by IQAir, a Swiss air quality organization that draws data from more than 30,000 monitoring stations around the world.

While the world’s air is generally much cleaner than it was in much of the past century, there are still places where the pollution levels are particularly dangerous. The most polluted country, Pakistan, has PM2.5 levels more than 14 times higher than the WHO standard, the IQAir report found, with India, Tajikistan and Burkina Faso the next most polluted countries.

But even in wealthy and fast-developing countries, progress in cutting air pollution is under threat. Canada, long considered as having some of the cleanest air in the western world, became the worst for PM2.5 last year due to record wildfires that ravaged the country, sending toxic spoke spewing across the country and into the US.

In China, meanwhile, improvements in air quality were complicated last year by a rebound in economic activity in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the report finding a 6.5% increase in PM2.5 levels.

“Unfortunately things have gone backwards,” said Glory Dolphin Hammes, North America chief executive of IQAir. “The science is pretty clear about the impacts of air pollution and yet we are so accustomed to having a background level of pollution that’s too high to be healthy. We are not making adjustments fast enough.”

Air pollution kills an estimated 7 million people a year worldwide – more than Aids and malaria combined – and this burden is most heavily felt in developing countries that rely upon particularly dirty fuels for heating, light and indoor cooking.

The most polluted urban area in the world last year was Begusarai in India, the sixth annual IQAir report found, with India home to the four most polluted cities in the world. Much of the developing world, particularly countries in Africa, lacks reliable air quality measurements, however.

The WHO lowered its guideline for “safe” PM2.5 levels in 2021 to five micrograms per cubic meter and by this measure many countries, such as those in Europe that have cleaned up their air significantly in the past 20 years, fall short.

But even this more stringent guideline may not fully capture the risk of insidious air pollution. Research released by US scientists last month found there is no safe level of PM2.5, with even the smallest exposures linked to an increase in hospitalizations for conditions such as heart disease and asthma.

Hammes said that countries should act to make their cities more walkable and less reliant upon cars, amend forestry practices to help curtail the impact of wildfire smoke and move more quickly to embrace clean energy in place of fossil fuels. “We share the atmospheric envelope with everyone else in the world and we need to make sure we are not doing things that harm those elsewhere,” she said.

Aidan Farrow, senior air quality scientist at Greenpeace International, said that better air quality monitoring is needed, too.

“In 2023 air pollution remained a global health catastrophe, IQAir’s global data set provides an important reminder of the resulting injustices and the need to implement the many solutions that exist to this problem,” he said.

Only seven countries meet WHO air quality standard, research finds | Pollution | The Guardian

Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia & Oceania, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Europe, France, Germany, Health Effects of Air Pollution, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Malaysia, Mexico, Middle East, Mongolia, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, USA, USA & Canada, Vietnam, World News | Leave a comment

Short-term exposure to high levels of air pollution kills 1 million globally every year, new study finds

Posted on March 6, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

Every year, more than one million deaths globally occur because of exposure to short-term (hours to days) fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in air pollution, according to a new report, with Eastern Asia reporting more than 50% of deaths attributable to short-term PM2.5 globally.

To date most studies have focused on the health impacts of living in cities where pollution levels are consistently high, ignoring the frequent “spikes” in pollution that can impact smaller urban areas that occur for instance landscape fires, dust, and other intermittent extreme air-pollution concentration events.

The Monash University study, looking at mortality and pollution levels of PM2.5 in over 13,000 cities and towns across the globe in the two decades to 2019, is published in The Lancet Planetary Health.

Led by Professor Yuming Guo, the study is important because it is the first to look at short-term exposure globally—rather than the long-term impacts of persistent exposure such as for people living in cities with high pollution levels.

The researchers found that breathing in PM2.5 for even a few hours, and up to a few days, results in more than one million premature deaths occurring worldwide every year, particularly in Asia and Africa, and more than a fifth (22.74%) of them occurred in urban areas.

According to Professor Guo, the short-term health effects of being exposed to air pollution have been well documented, “such as the megafires in Australia during the so-called Black Summer of 2019–20 which were estimated to have led to 429 smoke-related premature deaths and 3,230 hospital admissions as a result of acute and persistent exposure to extremely high levels of bushfire-related air pollution,” he said. “But this is the first study to map the global impacts of these short bursts of air pollution exposure.”

The authors add that because of the high population densities in urban areas together with high levels of air pollution, “understanding the mortality burden associated with short-term exposure toPM2.5 in such areas is crucial for mitigating the negative effects of air pollution on the urban population.”

According to the study:

  • Asia accounted for approximately 65.2% of global mortality due to short-term PM2.5 exposure
  • Africa: 17.0%
  • Europe: 12.1%
  • The Americas: 5.6%
  • Oceania: 0.1%

The mortality burden was highest in crowded, highly polluted areas in eastern Asia, southern Asia, and western Africa with the fraction of deaths attributable to short-term PM2.5 exposure in eastern Asia was more than 50% higher than the global average.

Most areas in Australia saw a small decrease in the number of attributable deaths, but the attributable death fraction increased from 0.54% in 2000 to 0.76% in 2019, which was larger than any other subregions. One potential reason could be the increasing frequency and scale of extreme weather-related air pollution events, such as bushfire events in 2019.

The study recommends that where health is most affected by acute air pollution, implementing targeted interventions—such as air-pollution warning systems and community evacuation plans to avoid transient exposure to high PM2.5 concentrations—could mitigate its acute health damages.

More information: Estimates of global mortality burden associated with short-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), The Lancet Planetary Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00003-2

Journal information: The Lancet Planetary Health 

Short-term exposure to high levels of air pollution kills 1 million globally every year, new study finds

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‘Ozone season’ begins in Wichita

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

The beginning of March signals the start of what’s known as “ozone season” in Wichita.

This is when the city closely monitors air quality levels through to October.

Mayor Lily Wu highlighted the dangers of high air pollution.

“Air pollution is unhealthy for everyone, but especially for children or elderly and those with asthma,” Wu said. “In addition, if our area goes out of compliance with air quality, businesses could face stricter regulations and our citizens could pay higher costs for things like fuel.”

Wichita residents like Kenny Kralicek do what they can to help the air quality in the city, as fire season brings smoke to the air.

He said that he tries to reduce his carbon footprint by not running his engine for too long.

“I don’t sit for hours on end and drive-thrus,” Kralicek said. “Everybody like, acts like they can’t go inside of the store?”

One thing the city of Wichita says people can do to help in their day-to-day lives is to fuel their gas tank after dark to reduce fumes.

The city is also providing an incentive to residents to use more environmentally friendly lawn care equipment.

“Up to $100 rebates are available for people in Wichita and surrounding counties who purchase new noncombustible lot lawn equipment and recycle their old combustible equipment'” Wu said. “Up to $30 rebates are available for mulch blades and no recycling is required.”

The city issues ozone alerts on days when air quality is below the federal standard.

‘Ozone season’ begins in Wichita – KAKE

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Study links air pollution with increased Alzheimer’s markers

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

People with higher exposure to traffic-related air pollution were more likely to have high amounts of amyloid plaques in their brains associated with Alzheimer’s disease after death, according to a study published in the February 21, 2024, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers looked at fine particulate matter, PM2.5, which consists of pollutant particles of less than 2.5 microns in diameter suspended in air.

The study does not prove that air pollution causes more amyloid plaques in the brain. It only shows an association.

“These results add to the evidence that fine particulate matter from traffic-related air pollution affects the amount of amyloid plaque in the brain. More research is needed to investigate the mechanisms behind this link.” – Anke Huels, PhD, study author of Emory University in Atlanta

For the study, researchers examined the brain tissue of 224 people who agreed to donate their brains at death to advance research on dementia. The people had died at an average age of 76.

Researchers looked at the traffic-related air pollution exposure based on the people’s home address in the Atlanta area at the time of death. Traffic-related PM2.5 concentrations are a major source of ambient pollution in urban areas like the metro-Atlanta area where most donors lived. The average level of exposure in the year before death was 1.32 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) and 1.35 µg/m3 in the three years before death.

Researchers then compared pollution exposures to measures of the signs of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain: amyloid plaques and tau tangles. They found that people with higher exposures to air pollution one and three years before death were more likely to have higher levels of amyloid plaques in their brains. People with 1 µg/m3 higher PM2.5 exposure in the year before death were nearly twice as likely to have higher levels of plaques, while those with higher exposure in the three years before death were 87% more likely to have higher levels of plaques.

Researchers also looked at whether having the main gene variant associated with Alzheimer’s disease, APOE e4, had any effect on the relationship between air pollution and signs of Alzheimer’s in the brain. They found that the strongest relationship between air pollution and signs of Alzheimer’s was among those without the gene variant.

“This suggests that environmental factors such as air pollution could be a contributing factor to Alzheimer’s in patients in which the disease cannot be explained by genetics,” Huels said.

A limitation of the study is that researchers only had the home address of people at the time of their death for measuring air pollution, so it’s possible that pollution exposure may have been misclassified. The study also involved mainly white people who were highly educated, so the results may not be representative of other populations.

The study was supported by the HERCULES Pilot Project, Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Rollins School of Public Health Dean’s Pilot and Innovation Grant.

Source:

American Academy of Neurology

Study links air pollution with increased Alzheimer’s markers

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‘It stinks!’: Milan residents grapple with high pollution

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

Pietro De Luca lives in Italy’s finance and fashion capital Milan but often thinks of moving to a cleaner city with his wife and three children to escape high pollution and the health risks it causes.

“It stinks! I smell a constant stench of smog, I cough, I feel my throat burning,” said De Luca, who lives in a second floor apartment in Milan’s eastern Città Studi district.

Levels of fine particulates and other pollutants in Milan rank among the highest in Europe, data from the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and Italian environmental lobby Legambiente showed this month.

Some residents are wearing face masks outdoors to reduce exposure to the dirty air.

Roberto Lorenzutti, who used to live in Milan, says he breathes much better since he left. He had an opportunity to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and relocated to the island of Sardinia.

“In Milan you have to try and survive in this swamp for five days a week, and get yourself out for the weekend to get a breath of fresh air,” he said.

Milan and surrounding cities in Italy’s affluent northern region of Lombardy have responded by activating measures on Tuesday to limit the use of the most polluting vehicles during the main hours of the day.

Milan, a city of just over one million people, lies within the densely populated Po Valley, which houses almost one third of Italy’s population.

The valley’s 17 million inhabitants make it one of the most polluted areas in Europe, for which Italy was in 2020 found in breach of EU clear air directives by the EU Court of Justice.

The problems are caused by dense agricultural and industrial activity in the valley, amplified by its geography which traps the air, said Valentina Bosetti, professor of Environmental and Climate Change Economics at the city’s Bocconi University.

In Milan, the levels of air pollutants PM2.5, PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) last year all breached the guidelines set by the World Health Organization, Legambiente noted.

The issue is a long-standing one for the area and Giorgio Maione, Lombardy regional councillor for the environment, says progress has been made, citing a 39% reduction in PM10 concentration and 45% in NO2 over the past two decades.

Milan environment councillor Elena Eva Maria Grandi, however, said that pollution levels remain very high, and asked for closer cooperation between municipal and regional authorities to evaluate emergency measures for a city that will co-host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

“We are very worried, it is evident,” she said.

‘It stinks!’: Milan residents grapple with high pollution | Reuters

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Air Pollution Reaches Unhealthy Levels in Laos, Affecting Three Main Provinces

Posted on February 19, 2024 by Respro® UK Ltd

Laos is experiencing a rise in air pollution levels, reaching unhealthy levels in three main provinces, including Vientiane Capital, Luang Prabang Province, and Champasack Provinces.

Vientiane Capital’s air quality has measured an unhealthy level Air Quality Index (AQI) of 155-160 today, on 19 February, while Luang Prabang Province and Pakse district in Champasack Province both registered around 158-160, according to the IQ Air website.

The pollution rate began to worsen over the weekend between 17-18 February in these provinces. Luang Prabang recorded AQI levels of 163 and 154, Pakse at 155 and 158, and Vientiane Capital at 148 and 145 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Last October, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment reported that Laos typically experiences heightened air pollution during its dry season, spanning from November to April annually. This period sees an increase in practices such as waste burning, deforestation, and the burning of agricultural land, all of which are significant contributors to high air pollution levels.

In an attempt to reduce the smog, the ministry, alongside the World Health Organization (WHO), discussed solutions to be implemented, including building public awareness of the short- and long-term health risks, conducting climate change awareness workshops, and decentralizing fire. This aligned with the government’s goal to reduce the number of unregulated fires by 35 percent in 2025

However, there have been no concrete updates on the progress ever since the meeting was conducted.

Throughout March 2023, Vientiane Capital and Luang Prabang were also coping with the continuously rising air pollution, with the latter recording the AQI level at 500 as a result of forest fires, agricultural burning, and hunting practices.

The pollution madness, at that time, led to a huge demand for air purifiers in Vientiane Capital, with some electronic shops reporting that such machines in their places were all sold out.

Thailand, a close neighbor of Laos, has also been facing severe air pollution issues, with the AQI reaching an unhealthy 156. In certain areas, the AQI exceeded 163, as reported by The Associated Press News on 15 February. In a prompt response, the Thai government instructed city employees in Bangkok to work from home until the situation improves, given that Thailand is currently in its dry season, as well.

Air Pollution Reaches Unhealthy Levels in Laos, Affecting Three Main Provinces – Laotian Times

Air Pollution Reaches Unhealthy Levels in Laos, Affecting Three Main Provinces

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