Air Particles Found To Increase Respiratory Health Problems
Imagine a particle of soot so small that thirty particles placed side by side would be about the same width as a human hair.
Environmentalists call this a fine particle. Its measurement is PM 2.5; particulate matter equal to or less than 2.5 microns in diameter. But put enough of those fine particles of soot in the air we breathe and the result is not so fine at all. In fact, for older people the results may be deadly.
Particle response
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains a national monitoring network known as AIRS: the Aerometric Information Retrieval Service. This network measures air quality factors, including fine particles generated by power plants and automobile exhaust.
In a recent study partly funded by the EPA, US researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health assessed potential health risks of short-term exposure to fine particles, which can deeply penetrate the respiratory tract.
The Hopkins team compared daily AIRS data collected throughout the US between 1999 and 2002. This data was compared with hospital admission records from the same time period for more than 11 million elderly patients. Researchers specifically looked for hospital admissions that were prompted by a variety of cardiovascular and respiratory problems, including coronary heart disease, heart failure, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and respiratory infection.
Results revealed a short-term increase in hospital admissions for all of these conditions on days when levels of PM 2.5 were elevated. The most significant association was for heart failure.
In a press release from the US National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, lead researcher Francesca Dominici, Ph.D., stated that most of the spikes in hospital admissions occurred on the same day as the rise in fine particle concentration, suggesting a short lag time between the change in pollution and the subjects response.
Air quality right now
Dr. Dominici noted that its not yet known exactly what characteristics of fine particles produce adverse reactions. She also stated that air quality standards need to be established to protect respiratory health. Even though she was referring to the quality of the air in the US, the study and her advice apply to you here in the UK as well.
In the meantime, if you are going out and want to know what that air quality is in your area, there is a website that can help. It is called the Air Quality Archives. It provides up-to-date, comprehensive, detailed information on air quality. The site is also the national archive of air quality information and reports, including detailed air quality monitoring data and statistics, plus major sections on local air quality management and air quality research.
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