Pollution and mortality
• Increased susceptibility to infection from impaired immune defences
• Airways inflammation leading to impaired gas exchange and hypoxia (deficiency of oxygen reaching the tissues of the body)
• Provocation of alveolar inflammation* by ultrafine particles with the release of mediators that exacerbate underlying lung diseases and increase blood coagulability
• Increased lung permeability leading to pulmonary edema (excessive accumulation of fluid on the lung tissues)
• Precipitation of heart failure in those with chronic heart disease by acute bronchiolitis** or pneumonia induced by pollution
Source: Particles in our air: Health effects and concentrations, edited by Richard Wilson and John Spengler, Harvard University Press, USA
* alveolar inflammation
Related Content
- Air pollution reduces economic activity: evidence from India
- WHO ambient air quality database, 2022 update: status report
- Ambient air pollution and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in an analysis of Asian cohorts
- Breathing heavy: new evidence on air pollution and health in Bangladesh
- Are all air pollution particles equal?: how constituents and sources of fine air pollution particles (PM2.5) affect health
- When the dust settles: a review of the health implications of the dust component of air pollution