Air Pollution and Exercise: What are the Health Effects?

Georgia: Roby Greenwald, an environmental health researcher at Georgia State University’s School of Public Health, studies how air pollution affects health. One of his current projects is focused on physically active people in metro Atlanta, including high school football players and track team members, as well as adults who enjoy Ultimate Frisbee. Like many active people, they often exercise in smoggy weather or in parks or school fields near high-traffic areas.

Loss of Brain Tissue in Older Women May Be Linked to Air Pollution

Wake Forest: Researchers may have discovered a link between the loss of brain tissue and air pollution. Their research appears in the June 15 issue of the Annals of Neurology. The findings could help explain how the brain ages and functions in older women who lived in regions with greater airborne levels of coarse particles.

is aircraft cabin air toxic?

TheConversation: Following the death of commercial airline pilot Richard Westgate, an inquest was launched into the cause of his death. Westgate had previously claimed that his health problems were caused by exposure to on board toxic chemicals and a subsequent coroner’s report raised concerns with the pilot’s employers, British Airways, and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), regarding the health effect of aircraft cabin air on aircraft occupants. Both organisations have responded to the report and stress that they take the matter of cabin air quality very seriously but that scientific evidence had not established a risk to ill-health. The investigation is ongoing and the inquest has not yet been heard.

Toxic aroma therapy

Hanyang: Professor Ki-Hyun Kim has conducted research regarding habits and life choices of people in relation to air pollution – electronic cigarettes and the use of scented candles to name a few – and his paper “Characterization of hazardous and odorous volatiles emitted from scented candles before lighting and when lit” was selected as paper of the week as it was published in Journal of Hazardous Material. The popularity of scented candles has grown as the use of candles expanded from lighting to indoor air freshener, aromatherapy and decor.

Thanks to remote sensing data from satellites, it is now possible to determine PM2.5 air pollution

NIH: After college, Perry Hystad took a trip to India and, while touring several large cities, noticed the vast clouds of exhaust from vehicles, smoke from factories, and soot from biomass-burning cook stoves. As he watched the rapid urban expansion all around him, Hystad remembers thinking: What effect does breathing such pollution day in and day out have upon these people’s health? This question stuck with Hystad, and he soon developed a profound interest in environmental health.With the support of an NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Hystad has launched his own lab at Oregon State University, Corvallis, to investigate further the health impacts of air pollution, which one recent analysis indicates may contribute to as many as several million deaths worldwide each year .

Fine Particulate Air Pollution Associated with Increased Risk of Childhood Autism

Pittsburgh: Exposure to fine particulate air pollution during pregnancy through the first two years of a child’s life may be associated with an increased risk of the child developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a condition that affects one in 68 children, according to a University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health investigation of children in southwestern Pennsylvania.

How seasons and air pollution influence stroke

Hanyang: Pr Hyeong-Joon Yi is the authors of the paper titled “Effect of Seasonal and Monthly Variation in Weather and Air Pollution Factors on Stroke Incidence in Seoul, Korea,” which provided a deeper insight into seasonal and monthly variations in weather and air pollution in Seoul as one of the factor of stroke incidence. Through this paper, Yi hoped to enhance the understanding of the relationships between stroke and weather and air pollutants. In South Korea, stroke is the second most common cause of death, and is the leading cause of disability. Stroke is also known as cerebrovascular accident (CVA) or brain attack, and occurs when poor blood flow to the brain results in cell death. There are two types of strokes, which are cause by the lack of blood flow and bleeding. The symptoms of strokes include disability on one side of the body, problems understanding or speaking. The main risk factor for stroke is high blood pressure, and occurs most commonly in adults aged 60 and over.

Research finds link between vitamin E and exposure to air pollution

Nottingham: A new study from The University of Nottingham and King’s College London has found an association between the amount of vitamin E in the body, exposure to particulate pollution and lung function. The new study adds to growing evidence from previous research suggesting that some vitamins may play a role in helping to protect the lungs from air pollution. Although the new study did not specifically demonstrate a protective effect, it is the first to show a clear link between vitamin E concentrations in the blood and exposure to fine particulate pollution in the general population.

Exposure to air pollution in the first year of life increases risk for allergies

British Columbia: New research from the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) study shows that exposure to outdoor air pollution during the first year of life increases the risk of developing allergies to food, mould, pets and pests. The study, published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, showed that the sensitivity to allergens was associated with exposure to traffic-related air pollution during infancy. “With the increasing rates of allergies amongst children in Canada and elsewhere, we were interested in determining if air pollution from traffic might be partially responsible,” said Michael Brauer, the study’s senior author and a professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. “This is the first study to find a link between air pollution and measured allergic sensitization during the first year.”

Power plants can produce cleaner air

Nature: When planning carbon emissions standards for power plants in order to curb global climate change, health-affecting air quality factors should also be taken into account, US experts have argued. The researchers have proposed three different power plant scenarios, which combine strategies to control both carbon emissions and factors that affect air quality, such as fine particulate matter and ozone concentrations. The findings show it is possible to set carbon standards for power plants while also providing immediate health benefits to those who reside nearby.

Toxic Combination of Air Pollution and Poverty Lowers Child IQ

Columbia: Children born to mothers experiencing economic hardship, who were also exposed during pregnancy to high levels of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), scored significantly lower on IQ tests at age 5 compared with children born to mothers with greater economic security and less exposure to the pollutants. The findings by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCCEH) at the Mailman School of Public Health appear in the journal Neurotoxicology and Teratology.

Air pollution costs European economies US$ 1.6 trillion a year in diseases and deaths

WHO: A staggering US$ 1.6 trillion is the economic cost of the approximate 600 000 premature deaths and of the diseases caused by air pollution in the WHO European Region in 2010, according to the first-ever study of these costs conducted for the Region. The amount is nearly equivalent to one tenth of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire European Union in 2013. "Curbing the health effects of air pollution pays dividends. The evidence we have provides decision-makers across the whole of government with a compelling reason to act. If different sectors come together on this, we not only save more lives but also achieve results that are worth astounding amounts of money," says Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab, WHO Regional Director for Europe. "Cross-sectoral work is the backbone of the environment and health process, which was initiated 26 years ago, and it is even more relevant today in the discussions taking place at this meeting in Haifa."

Supreme Court to get tough on UK air pollution

British Heart Foundation: Supreme Court judges must force the UK Government to speed up drastically its plans to improve UK air quality in order to protect the nation’s hearts from the adverse effects of air pollution according to our Director of Policy.

The UK Government was found guilty of breaching EU nitrogen dioxide limits in 16 different cities and regions, sparking a four-year battle in UK and EU courts to bring standards into line.

People with heart conditions are vulnerable to air pollution as it can make existing conditions worse and increase the risk of a heart attack. Recent BHF-funded research from the University of Edinburgh, published last month, has also shown exposure to air pollution increases the risk of hospitalisation or death from stroke.

Estimates show the Government’s current plans to cut nitrogen dioxide emissions would not meet legal limits in some areas until after 2030 – 20 years after the original 2010 targets were supposed to be met.

Last year, the European Court of Justice decreed the UK must comply with EU regulations in the shortest time possible. 

In a final hearing today, Supreme Court judges were asked to echo that ruling and order the UK Government to publish an action plan to improve air quality in these regions.

The Supreme Court will make its final judgment in the next few months. 

Mike Hobday, our Director of Policy, said: “For four years vulnerable heart patients have been exposed to illegally high levels of air pollution because the UK Government has failed to clean up the nation’s dirty air.

“It’s vital the Supreme Court finally holds the Government to account and orders them to act swiftly to ensure that the air we breathe is safe and does not do any further undue harm to our hearts.”

Exercise can outweigh harmful effects of air pollution

Copenhagen: New research from the University of Copenhagen has found that the beneficial effects of exercise are more important for our health than the negative effects of air pollution, in relation to the risk of premature mortality. In other words, benefits of exercise outweigh the harmful effects of air pollution. The study shows that despite the adverse effects of air pollution on health, air pollution should be not perceived as a barrier to exercise in urban areas. “Even for those living in the most polluted areas, it is healthier to go for a run, a walk or to cycle to work than it is to stay inactive,” says Pr Zorana Jovanovic Andersen.

Even short term to air pollution can raise stroke risk

Edinburgh: Recent exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of stroke, according to new research. Researchers found a strong association between the levels of pollutants in the air and the number of people suffering a major stroke within days of exposure. Their findings add to previous reports that long term exposure to air pollution is linked to lung, heart and circulatory diseases.

Study Suggests Prenatal Air Pollution Exposure may be Bad for Kids’ Brains

JAMA: A small imaging study suggests prenatal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the toxic air pollution caused in part by vehicle emissions, coal burning and smoking, may be bad for children’s brains and may contribute to slower processing speeds and behavioral problems, including attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD) symptoms, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

Air pollution linked to stroke and anxiety

Scimex: Two studies have found that air pollution is linked to a higher risk of stroke and associated with anxiety. In one study, Scottish scientists reviewed research investigating links between short term air pollution exposure and stroke-related hospital admissions and deaths in 28 countries - including Australia and New Zealand. While n the second study, US researchers looked at air pollution and anxiety in over 70,000 women aged between 57 and 85 years.

Air quality in nursing homes affects lung health of residents

INSERM: The indoor air quality in nursing homes has a serious effect on the lung health of elderly residents, according to the findings of a new study. The study, which is published online in the European Respiratory Journal, is the first to detail the negative effects of poor air quality in nursing homes across several countries.