Interview with prof. dr. hab. n. med. Wojciech Hanke, national consultant in the field of environmental health, deputy director for scientific affairs and head of the Department of Environmental Epidemiology at the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Łódź.
Smog driving?
It does not kill, but adds to the existing risk factors. It causes a predisposition to certain disorders or diseases. This is the biggest problem.
Does it matter for fertility?
Everything indicates that it can be so. Research conducted by our team from Lodz under the supervision of prof. Joanna Jurewicz related to the sperm quality of men attending infertility clinics. They lived in different regions of Poland, different in terms of air pollution. We considered semen volume, sperm motility, morphology, etc. The results show that where the concentration of contaminants was higher, the fertility rates were lower. Thus, poor air quality can make it difficult to conceive and sometimes even prevent pregnancy.
Air quality also affects the development of the fetus?
Yes. There is a lot of research in this direction in the world, including in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain (London, 2017, sample of thousands of women). They show that pregnant women, exposed to air pollution, can give birth to full-term babies, i.e. full-term babies, but with a lower birth weight, and therefore less developed. This is called intrauterine growth restriction.
What does this mean for the future of these children?
The consequences can be varied and distant in time. These children catch up quite quickly by gaining a healthy body weight, but they are burdened with chronic diseases, incl. cardiovascular diseases, overweight and obesity. (This is a paradox because a child is born with a body weight deficiency). Recent studies also indicate the risk of diabetes.
What about behavioral development?
Disruption of this development is one of the serious, long-term consequences. At school, these children may have learning difficulties and are unlikely to achieve their full potential. The team of prof. Wiesław Jędrychowski in Kraków checked the cognitive abilities of 5-year-olds whose pregnant mothers were exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) present in polluted air. It turned out that they had worse cognitive parameters. In other studies, the memory of children living in areas varied in terms of car traffic intensity was examined. It has been shown that where it is lower, children’s memory is better developed.
And the respiratory system? Is there any correlation here?
There is no doubt about it. Young children are particularly vulnerable to pollution because they breathe more often. Plus, often with the mouth, not the nose. In addition, their immune system is not fully developed, which is why they suffer, among others, from for pneumonia. This is confirmed by large studies conducted recently in Poland by the Greenpeace organization. About 1000 kindergartens were selected for them and the degree of air pollution in the regions where they are located was determined. They found that, where pollutant concentrations are high, the number of children who develop respiratory diseases can be much higher. The risk of developing the disease increases by 25%. compared to areas with low air pollution. In addition, children exposed to air pollution not only get sick more often, but their lungs develop more slowly, which could make them more susceptible to diseases such as COPD in the future. And if it comes to smoking cigarettes, the risk will be very high.
What is the correlation between air quality and allergies?
Air pollution increases the body’s excessive immune response. Often there is a combination of these phenomena – air pollution and inhalation allergy. For example, if a child is exposed to secondhand smoke at home due to traffic pollution overlapping it, it may result in an allergy. It is not just respiratory allergies. Our research in Lodz also shows the relationship between air pollution and food allergy
.
Is there any evidence that the fight against smog is effective?
We have a lot of evidence for this. An example of a positive intervention with proven health effects is the Austrian city of Linz, where, as a result of reduced car traffic, the spirometric parameters of its inhabitants improved.
Will it also be possible to change something in Poland?
I can see light in the tunnel. It is important not to look for half measures and not to act only causally. Each of us can do something in this matter: e.g. replace the old stove with a new one, and not always drive a car to work.
Also read:
- Smog – time to raise the alarm
- Every year, it silently kills 45 Poles
- When the heart beats out of time
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