How is air pollution affecting your health? Short-term exposure could increase stroke risk
The effects of the declining air quality are somewhat of a concern to health experts, as more and more adverse health effects are discovered by breathing in the dirty air caused by events such as the Canadian wildfires and the world’s burning of fossil fuels.
A new study published in Neurology on Wednesday found that even a short exposure of five days to pollutants could increase a person’s chance of stroke-induced death.
“Air pollution’s impact on human health extends beyond the lungs and eyes. It also involves the brain and cardiovascular system,” Dr. Ahmad Tubasi, lead researcher of the study and a researcher with the faculty of medicine at the University of Jordan, told NBC News.
The study looked both at the type of particulate matter and the size of the matter. More than 18 million cases were analyzed of ischemic stroke — which is the most common type of stroke and is when the brain is deprived of blood, per the American Stroke Association.
When people were exposed to particulates, NBC News reported that the researchers found that stroke risk rose 30% when people had been exposed to nitrogen dioxide, 26% when exposed to carbon monoxide, 15% when exposed to sulfur dioxide and 5% when exposed to ozone. The possibility of dying from a stroke also rose.
The authors concluded that there was “a strong and significant correlation between gaseous and particulate air pollutants and the occurrence and mortality rates of stroke.”
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How does air pollution increase risk of stroke?
Although the study didn’t address how poor air quality could cause an elevated stroke risk, several different factors are at play.
The National Institutes of Health wrote in 2011 that poor air quality was related to the development of atherosclerosis, or a buildup of cholesterol and fat in artery walls that then hardens and blocks the passageway. This condition is a risk factor for ischemic stroke, per the American Stroke Association.
This has to do with the body’s immune response to the pollution, with the result being inflammation, per NBC News.
“The longer a person is exposed to air pollution, and the more intense the exposure, the greater the risk,” Dr. Julius Latorre, the director of the Upstate University Hospital Comprehensive Stroke Center in Syracuse, New York, told NBC News. Latorre was not involved in the study.
Who is affected most by air pollution?
The World Health Organization has long warned of health consequences from air pollutants, especially for people with health concerns, children, the elderly and marginalized groups.
Disadvantaged populations are most likely to live closer to the pollutants and have less access to health care when problems do arise, per the American Lung Association.
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How long does it take for bad air quality to affect you?
David Peden, environmental medicine researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told News in Health, a newsletter from the National Institutes of Health, that effects from air pollution usually aren’t immediate and can take up to two days before you feel any effects.
“When people hear it’ll be a bad air day, most expect their breathing will be affected that day,” said Peden. “But in fact, they often feel the effects most strongly the next day or the day after.”
The new study agreed with this, as they had a five-day window to which they researched stroke susceptibility.
What is the U.S. ranked in pollution?
In 2020, the United States ranked as 24th in the world on environmental performance, per The Guardian.
In 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency recorded that 66 million tons of pollution were emitted into the atmosphere from the United States, which was less than in years past.
Does Utah have a pollution problem?
Northern Utah has some of the worst ozone pollution in the country.
The American Lung Association’s 2023 State of the Air Report, which uses data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rated Salt Lake City’s air quality as the worst in the state by a long shot, with an F grade. Also graded as a failing grader were Tooele, Uintah, Utah, Weber, Davis and Duchesne counties. The best counties, graded as a B, were Garfield and Iron.
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