Contaminated air causes deadly lung disease

August 14, 2019  14:50

Contaminated air negatively affects the lungs, JAMA reported referring to a study.

According to the source, it can cause the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other dangerous diseases.

Joel Kaufman of the University of Washington in Seattle notes that air pollution and smoking affects COPD.

As part of the study, scientists observed the health status of about 7 thousand residents of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, St. Paul and Winston-Salem for 18 years and measured the level of air pollution in the street and in the homes of the participants.

It turned out that increasing the concentration of ozone by only three parts per billion led to the fact that the risk of developing COPD significantly increased. Moreover, the growth rate of the disease is comparable to the scenario in which all residents of the studied areas would smoke a pack of cigarettes every day and for 30 years.

Scientists attribute the increase in ozone concentration primarily to global warming, and not to the development of industry and the increase in the number of cars in use.

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