Early exposure to air pollution puts children at higher risk of disease in adulthood

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

First of its kind study reveals evidence that early exposure to dirty air alters genes in a way that could lead to adult heart disease, among other ailments.

Exposure to air pollution has been linked to various diseases in adults. However, no study has investigated the impact on children.

To understand the multifaceted impacts, scientists at Stanford University have investigated air pollution’s effects at the single-cell level in a cohort of school-aged children (6–8 years; n = 221). While simultaneously focusing on both the cardiovascular and immune systems in children, the study reveals that air pollution puts children at higher risk of disease in adulthood.

The study uncovered that early exposure to dirty air alters genes in a way that could lead to adult heart disease, among other ailments. The study provides early clues for clinical intervention before actual disease presentation and could change the way medical experts and parents think about the air children breathe.

Study lead author Mary Prunicki, director of air pollution and health research at Stanford’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research, said, “I think this is compelling enough for a pediatrician to say that we have evidence air pollution causes changes in the immune and cardiovascular system associated not only with asthma and respiratory diseases, as has been shown before. It looks like even brief air pollution exposure can actually change the regulation and expression of children’s genes and perhaps alter blood pressure, potentially laying the foundation for increased risk of disease later in life.”

For the study, scientists used a combination of continuous daily pollutant concentrations measured at central air monitoring stations in Fresno, daily concentrations from periodic spatial sampling, and meteorological and geophysical data. This data is then used to estimate average air pollution exposures for one day, one week, and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months before each participant visit. 

When scientists combined this data with health and demographics questionnaires, blood pressure readings, and blood samples, it showed warning signs.

Using a form of mass spectrometry, scientists analyzed immune system cells. This approach allowed more sensitive measurements of up to 40 cell markers simultaneously, providing a more in-depth analysis of pollution exposure impacts than previously possible.

Among their findings: Exposure to fine particulate known as PM2.5, carbon monoxide, and ozone over time is linked to increased methylation, an alteration of DNA molecules that can change their activity without changing their sequence. This change in gene expression may be passed down to future generations.

Air pollution exposure contributes to increment in monocytes, white blood cells that play a key role in the buildup of plaques in arteries. What’s more, it could predispose children to heart disease in adulthood. Although, future studies are needed to verify the long-term implications.

Study senior author Kari Nadeau, director of the Parker Center, said, “This is everyone’s problem. Nearly half of Americans and the vast majority of people worldwide live in places with unhealthy air. Understanding and mitigating the impacts could save a lot of lives.”

Early exposure to air pollution puts children at higher risk of disease in adulthood – Tech Explorist
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How outdoor pollution affects indoor air quality

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd
MINUTE-BY-MINUTE OUTDOOR AND INDOOR AIR PARTICULATE MATTER MEASUREMENTS DURING AN AUGUST 2018 WILDFIRE EVENT.

Wildfire and firework smoke more impactful than inversions

Just when you thought you could head indoors to be safe from the air pollution that plagues the Salt Lake Valley, new research shows that elevated air pollution events, like horror movie villains, claw their way into indoor spaces. The research, conducted in conjunction with the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management, is published in Science of the Total Environment.

In a long-term study in a Salt Lake-area building, researchers found that the amount of air pollution that comes indoors depends on the type of outdoor pollution. Wildfires, fireworks and wintertime inversions all affect indoor air to different degrees, says Daniel Mendoza, a research assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and visiting assistant professor in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning. The study is unique, Mendoza says, combining a long-term indoor air quality monitoring project with paired outdoor measurements and research-grade instruments.

“We all know about the inversions,” Mendoza says. “We all know how large of a problem wildfires are. But do we really know what happens when we’re inside?”

The setup

Mendoza, who also holds appointments as an adjunct assistant professor in the Pulmonary Division at the School of Medicine and as a senior scientist at the NEXUS Institute, and his colleagues set up their air monitoring equipment at the Unified State Laboratories in Taylorsville, Utah. They placed three sensors to measure airborne concentrations of particulate matter: One on the roof to measure outdoor air, one in the air handling room–where the outdoor air comes in–and one in an office. The building uses a 100% outside air filtration system; this is not typical for most commercial buildings, which usually use some amount of recirculated air.

The sensors stayed in place from April 2018 to May 2019, just over a year. In the Salt Lake Valley, a year’s air quality events include fireworks-laden holidays on Independence Day and Pioneer Day (July 24), smoke from wildfires throughout the West that settles in the bowl-like valley and wintertime inversions in which the whole valley’s emissions are trapped in a pool of cold air. Through it all, the team’s sensors kept watch. Amid the expected events, however, a private fireworks show took place on Aug. 17, 2018, within five miles of the study building, providing an unexpected research opportunity. More on that later.

Minute-by-minute outdoor and indoor air particulate matter measurements during a December 2018 inversion.

During a wintertime inversion event in December, as the Air Quality Index outdoors reached orange and red levels, the indoor air quality reached yellow levels and stayed there until the inversion cleared. In all, the pollution levels inside were about 30% of what they were outside.

That’s not surprising, Mendoza says. During inversions, only around 20% of the air pollution is what’s called primary pollution – the particulate matter that comes directly from combustion exhaust. The rest is secondary–formed as gases undergo chemical reactions under specific meteorological conditions and combine to form solid particulates. As soon as the air comes indoors, those meteorological conditions change.

“That changes the chemical environment for these particles and they actually dissociate,” Mendoza says. “That’s what we’re suspecting is happening when these particles come into the building and that’s why we don’t observe them.”

Wildfires
Minute-by-minute outdoor and indoor air particulate matter measurements during an August 2018 wildfire event.

In late August 2018, when three active wildfires were burning in California, indoor air pollution rose to about 78% of outside pollution levels.

“For nearly 48 hours,” the researchers wrote, “indoor air quality reached levels considered problematic for health compromised populations and nearly reached levels considered unsafe for all populations.”

It’s important to note, though, that thanks to the building’s air handling system, the air is still safer inside than outside.

The reason for the higher infiltration of particulate matter, Mendoza says, is that smoke particles are stable and don’t break down in different temperature and humidity conditions.

“We see those particles travel straight through the system,” Mendoza says, “because there’s no specific filtration that blocks out these particles. Smoke particles can also be smaller in size; that’s why they’re so dangerous for us.”

Fireworks

 

Minute-by-minute outdoor and indoor air particulate matter measurements during the 2018 Independence Day holiday.

Utah has two major fireworks holidays: July 4 and July 24 (Pioneer Day). But the researchers happened to catch a signal from a private fireworks event just a few weeks before the wildfire smoke event, providing an opportunity to see how fireworks shows, both large and small, affected indoor air quality.

The smoke from fireworks is somewhere between inversion pollution and wildfires. It contains primary smoke particles as well as the gases that can combine to produce secondary particulates, which can come from the chemicals used to produce fireworks’ bright colors.

On the night of July 4, 2018, air quality sharply deteriorated once fireworks shows began and stayed in the red range, with spikes into the purple “very unhealthy” range, for about three hours. Indoor air quality reached orange levels, registering about 30% of the outdoor air pollution.

“It was only after 8 a.m. on July 5 that indoor air quality returned to pre-fireworks levels,” the researchers write.

Minute-by-minute outdoor and indoor air particulate matter measurements during a private fireworks event.

The private fireworks show on August 17 lasted only 30 minutes, and although the scope was much smaller, the smoke was still enough to raise the indoor air quality index to orange for several minutes.

“Even a ‘small’ fireworks show did have a marked impact on indoor air quality,” Mendoza says. That matters to people with respiratory challenges who can see large-scale, poor air quality events like inversions and fireworks holidays coming–but who might find private fireworks shows an unpleasant surprise.

The commercial building that the researchers studied is a somewhat controlled environment. Learning about indoor air quality in homes will be a greater challenge. “You have kids coming in with mud or with dirt on their feet, you have vacuuming and cooking. So that’s going to be our next step.” As many people are spending more time at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the research will hopefully help understand what actions people can take to improve their indoor air quality.

“There is a lot of opportunity to reduce the pollutants that reach occupants in buildings, both commercial and residential,” says Sarah Boll, assistant director of the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management. “To me, that is the great part of this work–with more research it can point the way to protecting people indoors.”

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Find the full study here.

How outdoor pollution affects indoor air quality | EurekAlert! Science News

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Long-term exposure to low levels of air pollution increases risk of heart and lung disease

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Exposure to what is considered low levels of air pollution over a long period of time can increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation and pneumonia among people ages 65 and older, according to new research published today in the American Heart Association’s flagship journal Circulation.

Air pollution can cause harm to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems due to its effect on inflammation in the heart and throughout the body. Newer studies on the impact of air pollution on health are focused on understanding the potential harm caused by long-term exposure and are researching the effects of multiple air pollutants simultaneously. Research on air pollution is critical to informing recommendations for national environmental and health guidelines.

“People should be conscious of the air quality in the region where they live to avoid harmful exposure over long periods of time, if possible,” said Mahdieh Danesh Yazdi, Pharm.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., a post-doctoral research fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and lead author of the study. “Since our study found harmful effects at levels below current U.S. standards, air pollution should be considered as a risk factor for cardiovascular and respiratory disease by clinicians, and policy makers should reconsider current standards for air pollutants.”

Researchers examined hospitalization records for more than 63 million Medicare enrollees in the contiguous Unites States from 2000 to 2016 to assess how long-term exposure to air pollution impacts hospital admissions for specific cardiovascular and respiratory issues. The study measured three components of air pollution: fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). Using hundreds of predictors, including meteorological values, satellite measurements and land use to estimate daily levels of pollutants, researchers calculated the study participants’ exposure to the pollutants based upon their residential zip code. Additional analysis included the impact of the average yearly amounts of each of the pollutants on hospitalization rates for non-fatal heart attacks, ischemic strokes, atrial fibrillation and flutter, and pneumonia.

Statistical analyses found thousands of hospital admissions were attributable to air pollution per year. Specifically:

The risks for heart attacks, strokes, atrial fibrillation and flutter, and pneumonia were associated with long-term exposure to particulate matter.

Data also showed there were surges in hospital admissions for all of the health outcomes studied with each additional unit of increase in particulate matter. Specifically, stroke rates increased by 2,536 for each additional ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air) increase in fine particulate matter each year.

There was an increased risk of stroke and atrial fibrillation associated with long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

Pneumonia was the only health outcome in the study that seemed impacted by long-term exposure to ozone; however, researchers note there are currently no national guidelines denoting safe or unsafe long-term ozone levels.

“When we restricted our analyses to individuals who were only exposed to lower concentrations of air pollution, we still found increased risk of hospital admissions with all of the studied outcomes, even at concentration levels below current national standards,” added Danesh Yazdi. “More than half of the study population is exposed to low levels of these pollutants, according to U.S. benchmarks, therefore, the long-term health impact of these pollutants should be a serious concern for all, including policymakers, clinicians and patients.”

The researchers further stratified the analyses to calculate the cardiovascular and respiratory risks associated with each of the pollutants among patient subgroups including gender, race or ethnicity, age and socioeconomic factors, detailed in the study.

The causality in the study could only be interpreted and not proven definitively due to the limitations of the data available, which may have not included other known CVD risk factors. In addition, coding errors can occur in the Medicare database, which would impact the analyses.

Long-term exposure to low levels of air pollution increases risk of heart and lung disease | EurekAlert! Science News
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PM2.5 air pollution claims 160,000 lives in five cities

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Delhi, Mexico and São Paulo are the cities with the highest death tolls, new research finds

Fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) was responsible for approximately 160,000 deaths in the world’s five largest cities in 2020.

Exposure to PM2.5 is considered the most important environmental risk factor for deaths globally and was attributed to 4.2 million premature deaths in 2015.

New research by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the air quality technology company IQAir, suggests Delhi saw an estimated 54,000 deaths due to PM2.5 air pollution last year, or one death per 500 people.

Mexico, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tokyo followed India’s capital in the list of cities with the highest number of air pollution-triggered deaths.

The report also estimates that more than $5 billion (£3.6bn) was the economic cost of PM2.5 in 14 cities.

Of the included cities, the highest estimated total financial cost from air pollution was recorded in Tokyo, which suffered approximately 40,000 avoidable deaths and an economic loss of $43 billion (£31bn).

Avinash Chanchal, Climate Campaigner at Greenpeace India, said: “When governments choose coal, oil and gas over clean energy, it’s our health that pays the price.

“Air pollution from burning fossil fuels increases our likelihood of dying from cancer or stroke, suffering asthma attacks and of experiencing severe Covid-19.”

PM2.5 air pollution claims 160,000 lives in five cities – Energy Live News
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Air pollution significantly raises risk of infertility, study finds

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Exposure to air pollution significantly increases the risk of infertility, according to the first study to examine the danger to the general population.

The analysis of 18,000 couples in China found that those living with moderately higher levels of small-particle pollution had a 20% greater risk of infertility, defined as not becoming pregnant within a year of trying.

The study design did not enable the scientists to determine how air pollution might damage fertility, but pollution particles are known to cause inflammation in the body, which could damage egg and sperm production, the scientists said. Another recent study of 600 women attending a US infertility clinic found that increased exposure to air pollution was associated with a lower number of maturing eggs in the ovaries.

Infertility affects many millions of couples around the world but relatively little research has been done on the impact of air pollution. However, dirty air is already known to increase the risk of other aspects of reproduction, including premature birth and low birth weight. Common levels of nitrogen dioxide are as bad as smoking in raising the risk of miscarriage and pollution particles have been found on the foetal side of placentas.

Qin Li, at the Centre for Reproductive Medicine at Peking University Third hospital in China, who led the infertility research, said prospective parents should be concerned about air pollution. “Numerous studies have noted that air pollution is associated with lots of adverse pregnancy events,” he told the Guardian.

“Approximately 30% of infertile couples have unexplained infertility,” Li and colleagues wrote, noting that age, weight and smoking were well-known factors. “[Our study] indicates that small-particle pollution could be an unignorable risk factor for infertility.”

Previous studies have produced mixed results but were based on groups of people that excluded infertile couples or were conducted in infertility clinics, Li said: “Our study samples were recruited from the general population, so our findings may be more generalisable.”

“The size of the effects they observe seem pretty high, which would be concerning if borne out in future studies as well, particularly in low pollution environments,” said Tom Clemens, at the University of Edinburgh, UK. The pollution levels in China are relatively high, he said, but harmful effects have been reported on reproduction at much lower levels. “So clearly poor air quality impacts the reproductive system in general,” he said.

Prof Mireille Toledano at Imperial College London, UK, said new research on this important topic was very welcome as there were not many previous studies. She said lower levels of air pollution might affect infertility, but that more research was needed.

The research, published in the journal Environment International, was based on data from interviews and questionnaires from 18,571 couples who were part of the large China Fertility Survey of Married Women. In China, women are required to register with the authorities before attempting to become pregnant, enabling the researchers to request information from all women who were aiming to conceive.

The researchers found that women exposed to small particle pollution that was 10 micrograms per cubic metre higher over a year had a 20% greater risk of infertility. The average pollution level for the Chinese couples was 57µg/m3. In London, UK, the average is about 13µg/m3.

The results also showed that the proportion of women not becoming pregnant after 12 months of trying rose from 15% to 26% when comparing the quarter exposed to the lowest pollution with the quarter suffering the highest. The researchers took account of other factors including age, weight, income, smoking, alcohol drinking, and exercise levels.

Previous studies of dirty air and fertility have used data on sperm quality, perhaps because this is easier to obtain, with a 2017 review concluding air pollution has a “negative impact”.

“While there are certainly steps that individuals can take to reduce exposure, such as air filtration systems in high pollution locations and avoiding exposure to high traffic, they are unlikely to result in substantially different long-term exposures,” he said. “They are also not realistic for many people because of socio-economic constraints, including work patterns and transport opportunities.”

Air pollution significantly raises risk of infertility, study finds | Air pollution | The Guardian
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Deadly Smog Over India Won’t Lift Until March, Copernicus Says

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

The forecast by Europe’s Earth observation agency comes after a new Harvard study showing high mortality rates from air pollution

A toxic-dust cocktail that has engulfed large swathes of India since October isn’t expected to lift until next month, prolonging the exposure of people to emissions that can dramatically reduce their lifespan.  

This week’s forecast by the Copernicus Climate Change Service follows a new study by scientists at Harvard University showing that some 2.5 million Indians die annually from air pollution. Smog season recurs yearly in cities like New Delhi as burning farmland combines with fossil fuel exhaust, enveloping urban centers during cold months when demand for heat is high and air circulation is muted. 

“This winter haze could potentially continue until the spring when increased temperature and changes in the weather will help to dissipate the pollution,” said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at Copernicus. The danger arises from “activities such as traffic, cooking, heating and crop stubble burning which are able to accumulate over the region due to topography and cold stagnant conditions.”

The Harvard study published this month in Environmental Research concluded that previous estimates of deaths caused by long-term exposure to airborne toxic particles were too low. 

“Often, when we discuss the dangers of fossil fuel combustion, it’s in the context of carbon dioxide and climate change and overlook the potential health impact of the pollutants co-emitted with greenhouse gases,” author Joel Schwartz said in a statement. “By quantifying the health consequences of fossil fuel combustion, we can send a clear message to policymakers and stakeholders of the benefits of a transition to alternative energy sources.” 

Populations in Lahore, Dhaka and Kathmandu are being similarly impacted by the smog, according to Copernicus, which estimates that chronic exposure to pollution can reduce lifespans by two years in the worst-impacted cities.

Deadly Smog Over India Won’t Lift Until March, Copernicus Says – Bloomberg

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Pollen season grows 20 days in 30 years as climate crisis hits hay fever sufferers

Posted on February 15, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Pollen released by plants is also more intense than in 1990 in bad news for those with allergies, research in US and Canada finds

The climate crisis is multiplying the miseries faced by people with allergies, with new research finding that the pollen season in North America is now an average 20 days longer than it was three decades ago.

Rising global temperatures are helping lengthen the period of time, typically in spring, when pollen is released by plants, trees and grasses, according to the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In an analysis of 60 pollen-collecting stations across the US and Canada, the pollen season is now 20 days longer on average than it was in 1990. The season is also becoming more intense, with significantly larger quantities of pollen being detected.

This increase is strongly coupled with global heating, with the researchers using climate modeling to show that climate change is responsible for at least half of the additional days of pollen activity. There is also some evidence the growing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere may in itself be helping spur the increase.

“We are getting warmer winters, warmer springs and earlier springs and that is driving a lot of this,” said William Anderegg, co-author of the study and a scientist at the University of Utah, who became personally interested in the topic because of his own seasonal hay fever. “This is a really clear example that climate change is already here, in essence it’s here in every breath we take. The health impacts are with us and likely to get worse.”

Tiny pollen grains, expelled to propagate plants, can trigger seasonal allergies in some people, causing sneezing, itchy red eyes and runny noses. Pollen season can also worsen other conditions, such as asthma, and such ailments have been linked to poor school performance and knock-on economic impacts.

Anderegg said the pollen season was probably lengthening in other parts of the world, too, although some regions would be limited by water availability. “We don’t really know how far it will go from here, we don’t have a lot of pollen monitoring compared to other types of air pollution,” he said, adding that a public health response could include warnings on high pollen days and air filters for buildings.

The study is the first to be able to attribute the growing pollen season to climate change, according to Kristie Ebi, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington who was not involved in the research. “As the climate continues to change, without additional adaptation to prepare for and manage the impacts … the numbers of cases of asthma and allergies due to aeroallergens would be expected to increase,” she said.

Aaron Bernstein, an academic at Harvard’s school of public health and a doctor at Boston children’s hospital, said he was seeing more and more children suffering from allergies and asthma.

“The future is now,” he said. “We are seeing the health harms of climate change more clearly each year. The worsening allergy season is one of many reasons for major climate action now, not merely to prevent immense harms, but to promote a healthier, more just, and sustainable world.”

Pollen season grows 20 days in 30 years as climate crisis hits hay fever sufferers | Environment | The Guardian
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Air pollution caused 1 out of 5 deaths in 2018—that’s more than 8 million, study says

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Respro® UK Ltd

Microscopic, and sometimes larger, particles of soot, smoke and dust that spew out of gas-guzzling factories, ships, cars and aircraft are responsible for 18% of total global deaths in 2018—that equals more than 8 million people, a new study found.

That number far surpasses previous estimates of the amount of people killed globally by all types of air pollution, including dust and smoke from wildfires and agricultural burns. The most widely accepted estimate stands at 4.2 million, according to a Harvard University news release.

But the researchers from Harvard and several other institutions in England wanted to learn how many global deaths could be tied to pollution from the burning of fossil fuels alone.

So, they collected pollution emissions and meteorology data from 2012—a year not influenced by a climate phenomenon called El Niño that can naturally worsen air pollution in some regions—and dropped that into a global 3-D model.

A study on the findings was published Tuesday in the journal Environmental Research.

“Often, when we discuss the dangers of fossil fuel combustion, it’s in the context of CO2 and climate change and overlook the potential health impact of the pollutants co-emitted with greenhouse gases,” study co-author Joel Schwartz, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said in a news release.

“We hope that by quantifying the health consequences of fossil fuel combustion, we can send a clear message to policymakers and stakeholders of the benefits of a transition to alternative energy sources.”

Past research on global deaths due to air pollution has relied on satellite and surface observations that cannot differentiate where particles came from, such as from fossil fuels or wildfires. “With satellite data, you’re seeing only pieces of the puzzle,” said study co-author Loretta Mickley, a senior research fellow in the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The researchers attempted to overcome this issue by integrating data on atmospheric chemistry driven by everyday weather and climate patterns with estimates of emissions from multiple sources such as power plants, ships, aircraft and ground transportation.

This model, called GEOS-Chem, also allowed the scientists to divide the world into grid-like boxes to accurately map pollution levels in individual regions, “so we could know more exactly what people are breathing,” study first author Karn Vohra, a graduate student at the University of Birmingham in England, said in the release.

The team then developed a separate “risk assessment” model to understand how these pollution levels affect people’s health across the globe.

They found that more than 8 million people died in 2018 from fossil fuel pollution, or a little less than one out of five people. Regions with the most greenhouse gas emissions were Eastern North America, Europe and South-East Asia, the release said.

Particulate matter from fossil fuel pollution can lead to significant health problems such as nonfatal heart attacks, irregular heart beat, asthma and premature death in people with heart or lung disease, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

And the smaller the particles, the more danger they pose “because they can get deep into your lungs, and some may even get into your bloodstream,” the EPA said.

Air pollution caused 1 out of 5 deaths in 2018—that’s more than 8 million, study says
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