News round-up

We’re a little embarrassed that it’s been almost a year since we last posted on health impacts of air pollution. Not only that, but it makes it a bit of a mammoth task to bring an update - as new evidence seems to come out every week. So bear with us as we run through our findings…

Respiratory health:

• even smokeless fuels embed particulate matter in the lungs

• oxidative stress and reduced lung function in a study in Hong Kong

• indoor air quality and asthma/COPD

• hospital admissions for acute respiratory illness in Delhi

• GP visits in the England due to asthma attacks

• which elements of particulate matter are most likely to trigger asthma attacks

• how pollution impacts allergies and asthma

• voting patterns linked to respiratory health due to air pollution.

Cognitive and mental health:

• impacts on neurological health, particularly in low and middle-income countries

• how improving air quality could improve mental health in Europe

• link to anxiety disorders and schizophrenia from a study in Rome

• Alzheimer risk in older American population, Lewy body dementia risk and an overview of dementia risk

• childhood exposure to wood-burning linked to cognitive decline in later life

• exposure during midlife impacting aging brain health

• cognitive performance from long-term exposure

• link to poor sleep.

Particular conditions and diseases:

• link to glycolipid metabolic disorders, to obesity and to type 1 diabetes (this is an older study but the evidence around this is limited)

• overview of cancer risks, lung cancer in non-smokers and harm to the heart during breast cancer treatment

• potential link to brain tumours

• link to eye health and cataracts, and particular impacts on children

• cardiovascular health in young adults, heart tissue scarring and overall cardiovascular disease burden

• eczema in adults

• link to osteoporosis (also an older study)

• impact on adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Overall health and fitness:

• risk from particulate matter exposure while exercising, differentiated between male and female athletes

• summary of impact from physical activity and particular evidence on marathons

• link to heart rate variability in children and frailty in older populations

• childhood hospital admissions and air pollution episodes

• wood-burning linked to 2,500 deaths a year in the UK

• 95% of air pollution-attributable deaths globally for adults over 60 are due to non-communicable diseases

• overall guidance on health risks in Europe

• how to understand the mix of air pollution and its impact.

Forgive us if we don’t attempt to summarise all the findings of these studies. We have included some where the link between pollution and health impact is not statistically significant, but this might just be due to sample size in the study. Taken together they show an extraordinary set of health impacts - particularly from particulate matter - which should make anyone sit up and take notice.

We keep an organised list of all the evidence we come across, organised by theme, on our website.

Louise was lucky enough to join the Clean Air Champions conference a few weeks back at Imperial College. The Clean Air Programme closed on 31 March, so the conference aimed to summarise the understanding reached to date and prioritise research aims for the next phase. The focus was on transdisciplinary research, reaching beyond academia to civil society, policy makers and business.

Above is a still of a video piece that Louise shot with one of the convenors of the conference and friend of this blog, Dr Kayla Schulte. You can see the full video created and compiled by another friend, Marina Walker, here. The conference concluded with five key areas for future evidence and research, which was presented to national funding bodies. We look forward to the outcomes and will report back soon!