New Delhi, March 29 (FN?Representative) Air pollution has major negative consequences on health in day-to-day life, according to Dr. Sabyasachi Pal, Senior Consultant – Cardiology Department – CK Birla Hospitals. He said a complicated, heterogeneous mixture of gases, liquids, and particle materials makes up air pollution. Studies on the epidemiology of air pollution have consistently shown that both short and long-term exposure to current levels of ambient particulate matter increases the risk of cardiovascular events. It is a factor that lies in the one-third of people suffering from heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke; having a similar impact on cigarette usage and other harmful factors. No matter how affluent a location we reside in, air pollution is difficult to avoid.
The lungs, heart, and brain can all be harmed by airborne contaminants that can evade the body’s defences and enter deeply into our respiratory and circulatory systems, Dr Pal said. According to estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), 91 pc of the world’s population lives in areas with annual mean air pollution levels that are higher than the WHO recommendation of 10 g per cubic millimetre. Based on another recent survey, the analysis of the National Mortality and Morbidity Air Pollution Study (NMMAPS) estimated that daily total and cardiopulmonary mortality increased in the short term by 0.21 percent and 0.31 respectively, for each 10-g/m3 increase in PM10. The primary pollutants are particulate matter, which is a mixture of solid and liquid droplets primarily produced by fuel combustion and road traffic; nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide, which are produced by burning fossil fuels and other harmful substances; and ozone at ground level, which is produced when sunlight reacts with pollutants from vehicle emissions.
“The economic worth of the advantages acquired from environmental awareness-building programmes must be estimated in order to implement current air quality improvement initiatives. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil where plants grow are all contaminated by human activity, which has a negative impact on the environment,” Dr Pal said. The dawn of the industrial revolution brought success in terms of bringing in new technology, society standards, and the delivery of many services, but along with that it also brought the generation of large amounts of air pollutants that are dangerous to human health, he said. Scientific studies say that exposure to higher PM2.5 concentrations over the course of a few hours to weeks can result in heart attacks and even death from cardiovascular disease. Longer-term exposure can shorten life expectancy and raise the risk of cardiovascular death.
It has also been observed that both short and long-term exposure increases hospitalisations for major cardiovascular events like coronary syndrome, arrhythmia, heart failure, stroke, and sudden cardiac death in the general population, especially in those with pre-existing heart disease. Today, medical science experts are currently researching and working on new-edge advanced technologies to extract and eliminate these harmful particles from the human body. A person’s sensitivity to air pollution might be increased by biological variables such as old age, a history of cardiovascular illness, cardiovascular risk factors, pulmonary disease, and other health factors, Dr Pal said. Environmental pollution on a global scale is undoubtedly seen as a complex international public health issue. This significant issue is connected to the wider reach of social, economic, legal, and lifestyle choices of people and the world around them, he added