Cumulative exposure to air pollution increases risk of hospitalization for mental and physical illness
· News-MedicalStricter environmental restrictions are needed to curb the impact on secondary care, conclude the researchers.
Previously published research on the health effects of long term exposure to ambient air pollution has tended to emphasise deaths rather than hospital admissions, and physical, rather than mental, ill health, suggest the researchers.
In all, 202,237 people aged 17 and above were included in the analysis. Their health and hospital admissions for all causes; cardiovascular, respiratory, or infectious diseases; and mental illness/behaviour disorders were tracked from Public Health Scotland data and linked to levels of 4 key pollutants for each of the years between 2002 and 2017 inclusive.
The 4 pollutants from road traffic and industry comprised: nitrogen dioxide (NO2); sulphur dioxide (SO2); particulate matter diameter of at least 10 μm (PM10); and small particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) per 1 km2 in each person's residential postcode.
The average annual levels for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were lower than the 2005 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, but the levels of NO2 and PM2.5 were higher than the most recent 2021 WHO guidelines.
Average cumulative exposure to air pollution was strongly associated with higher rates of hospital admissions.
Higher cumulative exposure to NO2, PM10, and PM2.5 was associated with a higher incidence of hospital admissions for all causes, and for cardiovascular, respiratory, and infectious diseases before accounting for residential area.
SO2 was mainly associated with hospital admissions for respiratory disease while NO2 was associated with a higher number of hospital admissions for mental illness/behavioural disorders.
Exposure to ambient air pollution was assessed yearly rather than monthly or daily, so masking seasonal variations, while residential postcode had to serve as a proxy for personal exposure to air pollution.
The continue: "Specifically, policies aimed at making the zero emission zones (ie small areas where only zero emission vehicles, pedestrians and bikes are permitted) more abundant in Scotland, especially in the central belt of Scotland where busy and more polluted cities such as Glasgow and Edinburgh are located, would improve the air quality and in turn lower the hospital care burden in those cities."
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