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According to the report prepared by Onet and Airly, in the period from 1.08.2017/1.08.2019/731 to 226/226/45 (XNUMX days) for XNUMX days we breathed air in which pollution standards were exceeded. For XNUMX days, our health and life were in danger. XNUMX Poles die every year due to air pollution in Poland. How does smog kill?
How does smog kill? Let’s meet the opponent
The definition says that smog is an atmospheric phenomenon that arose as a result of mixing air with smoke and exhaust fumes. Smog is toxic and unnatural. And it appears more and more often.
Why is it dangerous? Prof. dr hab. med. Michał Pirożyński, pulmonologist and allergist at the Medical Center of Postgraduate Education in Warsaw.
– Smog contains tiny 2,5-micron particles that reach deep into our respiratory system. In addition, there are also larger particles (PM10) that damage the heart, skin and conjunctiva. If, in addition, we smoke tobacco, even more harmful particles end up in the respiratory system, get into the blood, and damage the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain. Hence, more and more neurological and vascular diseases in patients exposed to large amounts of smog.
Who is the main culprit behind smog? The greatest amount of PM 2,5 dust is produced in the municipal and housing sector (i.e. households) – 54 percent. The energy sector emits about 6,5 percent, industry 4 percent, and transport 10 percent.
When it comes to benzo (a) pyrene pollution, households are also the largest emitter – 79%. The energy sector emits 16 percent, and transport and industry hover around 0 percent. As for nitrogen oxide, transport emits the most of it into the atmosphere – 37 percent. Households generate 20 percent, energy 24, and industry 2 percent.
Every year in Poland, 40-45 thousand people die on average due to air pollution. Globally, this number rises to 6-7 million. It is as if all the inhabitants of Bulgaria or Serbia died in one year. How does smog kill?
Smog increases the number of heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks
The impact of smog on health was studied, among others, by scientists from Zabrze, from the Silesian Cardiovascular Base. For several years, they have been monitoring the health of 616. patients from 310 hospitals and clinics in the Śląskie Voivodeship. Patients suffer from diseases of the heart, circulatory system, strokes and other civilization diseases.
To investigate the impact of smog on health, scientists selected for analysis the data of 2 million people living only in Upper Silesia (Mysłowice, Katowice, Sosnowiec, Gliwice and the vicinity of these cities). The data show that in the years 2006-2014 family doctors provided 14 million consultations. During this time, there were over 43 thousand. heart attacks, over 33 thousand cases of atrial fibrillation and over 21 strokes. During this period, 626 thousand died. people, and over 74 thousand. deaths were associated with cardiovascular disease.
Experts compared their data with data on the concentration of harmful substances in the air. The analysis concerned substances such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Due to the lack of data, the concentration of benzo (a) pyrene was not taken into account.
Scientists have observed that at a time when the concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the air is high by as much as 12 percent. the number of patients suffering from a heart attack is increasing. By 18 percent the number of cases of pulmonary embolism increases, and by 16 percent. stroke. In the days when smog was highest, the number of deaths related to cardiovascular diseases increased by 8%.
Scientists from Great Britain made similar observations. They calculated that in the days of smog, in large cities of Great Britain (London, Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and Southampton) the number of heart attacks increases by an average of more than 120, strokes by over 230, and asthma attacks by nearly 200.
Professor Paweł Buszman, cardiologist and lecturer at the Medical University of Silesia, in an interview with Paweł Pawlik said that even a short, several-hour contact with very polluted air can cause the same mechanism of damage to the vascular endothelium even in a completely healthy person who has not suffered from atherosclerosis.
– You do not feel it every day, but with prolonged exposure to dust, we are exposed to chronic lung diseases and accelerated atherosclerosis with all the consequences – such as heart attacks, strokes, cardiovascular complications, ischemia, and limb amputations. The risk of neoplastic diseases increases independently, mainly due to high levels of carcinogenic benzopyrene, and chronic lung disease develops leading to respiratory failure. Hence the sudden deaths among unexplained young men in their 20s and 30s. Pollution disrupts the heart’s metabolism and causes life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, cardiac arrhythmias, including ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac arrest, explains Professor Buszman.
So there is no doubt that smog contributes to premature death.
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