Association between Long Term Exposure to Urban Air Pollution and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction and Coronary Heart Disease

Pollution continues to pose an enormous threat to residents of urban cities worldwide. In the August 2008 Monthly Update, it is stated that approximately 800,000 deaths each year can be attributed to outdoor air pollution, making pollution the single most harmful environmental hazard to human health in urban areas (Kallman). The fact that pollution kills hundreds of thousands of people each year alone portrays just how dangerous living in these conditions can be. Kallman writes about a study which proves an increase in upper respiratory diseases, cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality, and low birth weights when exposed to air pollutants (August 2008: Monthly Update). These can be very serious diseases and complications which, when contracted, can lead to death or very serious illnesses. There

The purpose of this study was to investigate the link between traffic related air pollution and childhood incident asthma in southern California. They hypothesized that children’s exposure to traffic related pollution at school and home both contribute to the risk of new onset asthma. This was a cohort study in which the subjects were enrolled in the Children’s Healthy Study (CHS) from forty-five different schools in thirteen different communities and were followed for several years. Initially 5,349 children that were in kindergarten and first grade were enrolled in a new CHS Cohort. The communities that were included were selected to represent a range of the regional particulate pollutants, nitrogen dioxides, and ozone in Southern California. Excluded from the study were children with a history of physician-diagnosed asthma at

"On high pollution days we may detect extra cases of stroke, other myocardial infarctions, heart attacks, for instance, and also PM (particulate matter) air pollution has been linked to premature mortality," she said.

Air Pollution today has lead CDC's fight against environmental -related respiratory illness, including asthma.An estimated number of 6.5 million deaths are attributed each year to poor air quality, making this the world's largest threat to human health.According to the World Energy Outlook and the IEA estimate that death due to household air pollution in Africa may decrease by 110,00 to 2040.However, due to economic growth, urbanization and automobile emissions, outdoor air pollution may rise from 300,00 to 450,000 over the same period. Am going to be looking at the causes of air pollution. the problems emerging with air pollution and also how we as a community can help decrease the amount of death rate associated with air pollution.I remember growing up in Africa Air pollution was always a talk about a subject that always comes out because it is really contagious due to the fact that we are breathing bad air that is caused by our human contribution to the environment.Air pollution is considered to be a public health problem, it is responsible for most of our health problems after some research has been conducted in many different parts of the world and regions. According to the Geochemistry and Health paleopathological research suggests that air pollution is a form of smoke, plagued our oldest ancestors.Air pollution has emerged as one of the leading risk factors for stroke worldwide.

The author begins the article by discussing the death percentage related to air pollution and what causes the elevated levels of air pollution. Huth continues the article by pointing out that different areas have different problems related to air pollution. Finally, Huth draws attention to the fact that different countries have different solutions to the air pollution. Though this piece was written for the entire United States, the fact that air pollution can be deadly to humans is universally applicable. Though Huth is a reporter and not an environmental scientist, Huth does cite reports made by credible institutions. Though this article talks only about how air pollution is deadly and does not expand the idea to talk about other health complications, the fact that air pollution is dangerous to human health does support my claim that a reduction in air pollution will lead to a better quality of

Air pollution is the dispersion of particulates, biological molecules, or other harmful materials into the atmosphere, causing diseases, allergies and death to humans, damage to other living organisms such as animals and food crops or the natural or built environments (Brunekreef & Holgate, 2002; Nowak, Crane, & Stevens, 2006). Polluted air directly or indirectly may cause or be attributed to an increase in fatality or serious unwellness and decline humans state of health (Kampa & Castanas, 2008). For example, in Canada, the Ontario Medical Association has attributed 9500 premature deaths per year and evaluates increased costs of health care ($506.64 M) and missed productivity ($374.18) as a result of air pollution (Rowe, 2011). Thus, employment

Apparently, Ozone is a lung-searing gas, which brings irritations in the airways causing respiratory problems (Kim, et al. 137). In California, both ozone and particulate matters have increased the heart and respiratory diseases such as asthma, lung diseases, bronchitis and heart problems for both children and adults. Nevertheless, some of this other harmful gas such as Carbon(II) Oxide, Nitrogen(IV) Oxide, and Sulphur(IV) oxide has also brought about cardiovascular

Air pollution has been recognized as a major threat to environmental health, and the effects that it can have on the population are extremely varied. In the environmental aspects, air

Starting in the year 2004, the air pollution has reached an alarming level in the city o Toronto. Dr Barbara Yaffe, the acting medical officer of health of Toronto Public health, has released a report in July 2004 saying that the “air pollution [in the city] has contributed to over 1700 premature deaths and 6000 hospitalization admission in Toronto each year” (Yaffe, 2004, p.i). According to this report, pollutants such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and carbon monoxide have increased within the air of the city; these pollutants are tiny particles that are 2.5 micron in diameter or less and can affect people’s respiratory system and cause cardiovascular and respiratory problems such as “asthma, bronchitis in children, adult chronic bronchitis, and heart problem” (TPH, 2007, figure 1). Although it

The World Health Organization estimated that more than 800,000 deaths worldwide were due to outdoor air pollution. Air pollution is a growing issue in industrialized areas due to exposure from industrial and traffic sources. Harm to the human body occurs from exposure to and inhalation of particulate matter (PM) (Barnes et al., 2012). PM is liquid or solid particles in the air, that when small enough in size, can be harmful to the human body when inhaled. Two common sizes of particulate matter are PM_10 and PM_2.5. PM_10 are particles that are 2.5 to 10 micrometers in size, and includes dust, mold and pollen just to name a few. PM_2.5 are particles that are 2.5 micrometers or smaller in size, and consists of particles from vehicles, industries, and burning. Smaller particles are able to get into the lungs and potentially cause serious health problems (Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2015). These health problems include acute cardiovascular events, changes to blood pressure, coagulation, myocardial perfusion, and chronic respiratory diseases (Barnes et al., 2012).

It was defined as the fraction of the health outcome in a certain population attributable to exposure to a given atmospheric pollutant. Obtained value then was multiplied by population (106). AP is proven causative correlation between health consequences and air pollutant exposure. We used default model that attributes cases of COPD to exposure to PM10. In addition to total cases attributable, we could estimate the distribution of cases attributable in terms of concentration intervals of pollutants.30 Relative risk (RR) is the ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the exposed group versus a non-exposed group. It is a measure of association between a disease or condition and a factor under study. Relative risk is calculated by dividing the incidence rate among those exposed to a factor by the incidence rate among those not exposed to that factor. Population Prevented Fraction refers to situations where exposure to a factor is protective. 31 All the above-mentioned equations are based on the assumption that the estimation used in this analysis has been controlled regarding all probable

Coronary heart disease (CHD), a narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart, effects millions of Americans. Approximately 370,000 people in the United States die from this disease. Evidence from recent studies show that we can now add noise to the already known CHD risk factors, such as, diabetes, high blood pressure, altered blood lipids, obesity, smoking, menopause, and inactivity. New data shows that noise pollution is causing more deaths from heart disease, contradicting what was previously assumed. Daily noise pollution can be defined as environmental, such as road traffic, trains, and aircraft and daily exposure can cause CHD. As noise pollution is a contributing factor for Coronary Heart Disease, there

Trends are changing with an increasing population in many metropolitan cities like San Diego, CA. Many individuals are spending more time in microenvironments like vehicles, making them more vulnerable to air pollutants and combustion by-products like PM 1.0, PM 2.5 and black carbon. These air pollutants have been associated to adverse human health effects including asthma, damage to DNA, cardiovascular effects, bronchitis, low birth weight and other respiratory symptoms.

Air is the ocean we breathe. Air supplies us with oxygen which is essential for our bodies to live. It is the most essential element for all living organisms and yet, most humans play a big role on polluting this essential resource and this means air pollution occurs. According to the Geoplanet.org, air pollution is the addition of harmful substances to the atmosphere resulting in damage to the environment, human health and quality of life. When the air contains gases, dust, fumes or odour in harmful amounts, this could be harmful to health or comfort of humans and animals or which could cause damage to plants and materials. The substances that cause air pollution are called as pollutants. Pollutants can be classified into two classes which are primary air pollutants and secondary air pollutants. The six common air pollutants are sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, lead and particulates. Air pollution happens due to many causes that come from many sources and of course, they will give bad impacts to all living things and environment.

It is believed that the problem of air pollution began with the industrial revolution (circa 1750 -1850) which brought with it the increased burning of coal that fueled the engines upon which the wheels of the industrial revolution were being propelled. Air pollution issues have dominated international discourse in the last couple of decades as a result of its adverse effects on the climate system. But most important is the damaging effects that some of these pollutants in the ambient air have in the human body as there have been overwhelming evidence linking poor air quality with respiratory diseases, heart diseases and cancer (WHO, 2013a & 2013b). Because