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Air pollution: The invisible health threat [1]

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Date: 2024-06 

Air pollution is a major environmental threat and one of the main cases of death among all risk factors, ranking just below hypertension, tobacco smoking and high glucose. WHO estimates that, globally, air pollution is responsible for about 7 million premature deaths per year from ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer, but also from acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia which mainly affects children in low- and middle-income countries. Being recognized as one of the main risk factors for Non-Communicable Diseases, a growing and consistent body of evidence shows that air pollution health effects also include preterm and low-birthweight, asthma as well as cognitive and neurological impairment basically having the potential to impact our whole body, way beyond our lungs.Air pollution is a threat also for public health economy as it imposes enormous global health costs representing 6.1% of the global gross domestic product (more than US$ 8 trillion in 2019).



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Put yourself in the shoes of a family doctor, faced with a young girl who frequently suffers from asthma attacks. As you embark on the journey of gathering her medical history, you realize that there might be more to the story than meets the eye. Could air pollution be an underlying risk factor worth considering in your patient’s assessment? What additional questions would you pose? How would you advise her to reduce her risk?

At present, health workers are often not aware of the health impacts of air pollution. This risk factor is not sufficiently addressed in the curricula of health professionals, with only 12% of medical schools world- wide including it as part of for- mal education, a study from the International Association of Medical Students’ Associations reports. As research is showing that a strong incorporation of air pollution and health as part of clinical disease guidelines is missing, the results from a World Heart Federation members survey indicates that while air pollution is recognized as one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, less than 50% of the responders felt that they have access to any tools and resources they need to better educate themselves and others.



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[1] Url: https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/air-pollution--the-invisible-health-threat

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