Warning: Serious Air Pollutants Are All Around You

It’s quite worrying to think about it, but the air that you breathe every day could be harming your health. There are lots of different particles in the air, and some of them can be damaging or dangerous for your wellness and wellbeing, particularly if you suffer from asthma.

 

Air pollutants are all around us. They come in the form of cigarette smoke and fumes from car exhausts, both of which release particles and gases into the atmosphere, and these can then irritate your respiratory system.

 

Leading charity Asthma UK believes that pollution actually plays a very strong role in causing asthma in the first place, both in children and in adults, as well as being a strong trigger to exacerbate the symptoms of those already suffering from the condition. Two thirds of people who suffer from asthma feel strongly that fumes from traffic make their asthma symptoms worse, and about 42 percent of asthma sufferers actually said that the worry about the effects of heavy traffic fumes would cause them to avoid areas with congestion. A strong 85 percent of those who suffer from asthma say that they feel very concerned about the effect that the increasing levels of vehicle fumes will have, both on their own future and that of their children in the years to come.

 

There is strong evidence that links the development of asthma with certain residencies, such as those who live next to roads with heavy traffics, particularly roads that are frequently travelled by diesel-fuelled lorries and busses, which cause the highest levels of pollution. Some studies suggest that asthma that starts when you are an adult can have the strongest link with pollution. This study links adult-onset asthma with pollution in the home environment, rather than any association with travelling or the workplace.

Categories: air, air pollutants, Asthma, fumes, pollutants, pollution, strong, suffer

Poverty and Ethnicity Play Role in Increased Asthma Attacks

Air pollutants are known both to cause asthma and to exacerbate its symptoms in individuals with the serious inflammatory disorder already affecting around 300 million people around the world.

New research in California suggests asthma problems are more likely to affect the poor and those from ethnic minorities. The study was carried out by the Chronic Disease Program at the University of California and Los Angeles Centre for Health Policy Research, and funded by the California Air Resources Board.

It concluded that those in the lowest income populations, along with racial and ethnic minorities, face exposure to higher levels of certain air pollutants than fellow Californians who are Caucasian and have a higher income that increases the asthma-related problems they suffer.

Those problems include increased asthma attacks and use of the daily medications required to keep the condition’s symptoms, such as breathlessness, wheezing and coughing, under control. Those with a low-income or in a racial or ethnic minority are also more likely to require hospitalisation to treat their symptoms.

In California, around 3.5 million and 900,000 children have asthma, while many more suffer from breathing problems that are symptomatic of the disease. The latest research, led by Dr Ying-Ying Meng, confirms the findings of previous studies that showed children and the elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, and the poorest in society in California have demonstrably more asthma attacks and greater symptoms than another parts of the population where the condition has been diagnosed.

Dr Meng’s team looked at the asthma difficulties suffered by African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Asians and Pacific Islanders to deduce their cause. They compared higher levels of air pollutants with increased vulnerability because of socio-economic status, residence and occupational exposure, which is known to increase the risk of asthma depending on the job.

The team concluded that higher levels of air pollutants, such as smog and ozone pollution, had the greatest effect on those groups, particularly for children and adults living below the federal poverty level. Those who live close to busy roads were also more likely to be hospitalised because of asthma symptoms.

The study also revealed that asthma attacks increased on the days when air quality exceeded state or federal standards.

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Poverty and Ethnicity Play Role in Increased Asthma Attacks

Categories: air pollutants, Asthma, exposure