Is air pollution more deadly than smoking?

 

Lung disease, cancer, heart disease and stroke are all being linked to air pollution until it is called a new type of smoking.

 

The question is, how much is this reducing our average age?

 

According to a team of scientists, air pollution is shortening our lives by 2.9 years. This rate is twice as high as before and even higher than smoking.

 

A study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Research claims that the average age reduction is 10 times higher than expected due to all forms of violence and war.

They used the latest statistical modeling methods to calculate the average age reduction and mortality rate in 2015, and found that air pollution caused an additional 8.8 million deaths.

 

According to the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco use causes 8.2 million deaths worldwide each year. More than 7 million of these deaths were caused by smoking and similar products.

Global epidemic

 

The effects of air pollution increase the risk of heart disease and respiratory diseases. It affects our lives and health in different ways.

 

"Our findings show that air pollution is a global epidemic," said Thomas Monzel, a professor at the University of Mainz Medical Center and co-author of the study, in a statement.

 

"Policymakers and the medical community need to pay more attention to this," he said, adding that air pollution had received less attention in recent decades than smoking.

Monzel and his fellow researchers say life expectancy could be significantly increased if fossil fuels were reduced. According to him, the average age can increase within a year if emissions are brought to travel.

Regional and national damage 

Experts also examined the reduction in life expectancy of people affected by long-term air pollution at the regional and national levels. The average age of the affected population in East Asia decreased by about 4 years. The rate was 7 years in the African country of Chad and 0.37 in the Latin American country of Colombia, which is just over four months.

Older people are more at risk

 

Researchers also found that pollution affects older people more. He estimates that 75% of the world's pollution-related deaths occur in people over the age of 60.

 

Commenting on the findings of the report, Samuel Kay, a senior epidemiologist at Oxford University who was not part of the study, said: "This shows that air pollution is a major threat to public health worldwide." He also said that it is no secret that air pollution is a new tobacco and its effects on health are very clear. Samuel Kay added that "the authorities need to take immediate action to protect citizens through a science-based policy."