PremiumPeople who have lung diseases and are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution from industries and vehicles are at a higher mortality risk, a study has said. The study was published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine which has linked the chemical composition of fine particulate air pollution to worsened fibrotic interstitial lung disease (fILD) outcomes.
Lead author Gillian Goobie, doctoral candidate at University of Pittsburgh, US said, “Some people with these lung diseases have an expected lifespan from diagnosis to death of only a few years, and yet it's a mystery as to why they developed the disease, why their lungs become so scarred."
"Our study points to air pollution -- specifically pollutants from factories and vehicles -- as potentially driving faster disease progression and premature death in these patients," Goobie said.
For the study, the researchers obtained data from 6,683 patients with fILDs in the US and Canada and linked their home addresses with satellite and ground-monitoring air pollution data.
The researchers specifically looked at a pollutant known as PM2.5, which refers to particulate matter that measures less than 2.5 microns across, a size invisible to the naked eye. PM2.5 is so small that it can penetrate into the lungs and can cross into blood streams too.
"In the past, most environmental health research has focused on the simple definition of PM2.5 as anything of that size. But PM2.5 is chemically diverse, with a different composition depending on whether it came from a forest fire or a tailpipe," said study co-author James Fabisiak.
He added: "Research has lacked in determining if the type of PM2.5 matters when it comes to health effects. Our new research is a big step towards filling in that knowledge gap."
Participants of colour were disproportionately exposed to higher levels of man-made air pollutants: 13 per cent of the high-exposure group were non-white, but only 8 per cent of the low-exposure group, highlighting the impact of environmental injustice in these findings as well, they said.
(With agency inputs)