Researchers estimate the amount of people who die early from diseases caused by exposure to air pollution will more than double by 2050.

More than 3 million people die prematurely from prolonged exposure to air pollution each year, according to the World Health Organization.

A new study shows the number could more than double by 2050. Researchers predict that 6.6 million people could die early from exposure to air pollution.

The Study

Researchers found that residential energy emissions significantly contributed to air pollution.
Image: eur web

The study, published in the international journal Nature, measured outdoor emission sources in urban and rural environments. It included residential and commercial energy use, agriculture, power generation, industry, biomass burning, natural causes and land traffic.

The study identifies various causes of air pollution that lead to serious diseases. By analyzing country-specific population and health statistics from the World Health Organization, researchers were able to measure different sources of air pollution that could cause premature death.

Fuel emissions from cooking and heating in countries such as India and China had the largest impact worldwide, according to Jos Lelieveld, a leading study author and a professor at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Germany.

“When most people think of outdoor air pollution, they tend to think of traffic and industry having the largest impact on global premature mortality, not residential energy emissions and agriculture,” Lelieveld told CNN..

The study was conducted using atmospheric chemistry devices that took measurements on the ground and via satellite. The technology compared the amount of fine particle matter in air pollution from different emission sources globally.

“Testing for the effects of air pollution emissions in different parts of the world was a very challenging task,” Lelieveld said, “especially in many developing countries, where air quality monitoring systems are minimal.”

Major Causes Of Pollution Worldwide

In the United States, agriculture and traffic emissions mix in the atmosphere to create a dangerous brew of pollutants.
Image: Humans Are Free

The highest death rates caused by exposure to air pollution are in the Western Pacific region,  eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.

The main cause of early death in major areas of Asia, such as China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal was due to low-quality fuels used for cooking, heating and waste disposal.

Agricultural emissions are the most significant contributors in the Eastern United States, Europe, Russia, Turkey, Korea and Japan. Secondary causes are traffic and power generation emissions.

Chemicals mixing in the atmosphere create a brew that is harmful to your body. Fertilizers and animals release ammonia that fuse with traffic emissions, which contaminate the air.

The study also cites natural forms of pollution such as desert storm sands, which are prominent in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

Risk of Disease

Air pollution causes lung cancer and other respiratory illnesses that lead to premature death.
Image: NYM

Chronic exposure to air pollution particles contributes to the risk cardiovascular issues, respiratory diseases and lung cancer, according to the WHO.

“The total number of deaths due to HIV and malaria is 2.8 million per year,” Lelieveld said. “That’s half a million less than the number of people who die from air pollution globally.”

The study uses toxicity levels to identify the source of pollution in order to improve public health. Each country is better able to address the atmosphere when they’re aware of the specific issues.

“It takes more than making the technology available. You have to convenience people to abandon traditional ways of doing things, which is not easy,” Lelieveld said. “This can be a win-win situation. Changes on the individual level can have a positive impact, not only on our health but also on climate change.”

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Australian researchers used data from the Global Burden of Disease Project to determine the most serious risk factors that can lead to premature death.

A 23-year study shows that smoking, high blood pressure and poor diet are major causes of premature death in the U.S.

The Australian study illustrates global trends related to changing risk factors that lead to early death. Identifying these factors can help policymakers discover threats to population health in order to find solutions to prevent premature death.

The Study

When researchers begun the study in 1990, the major risk factors contributed to 25 million deaths worldwide.  The number increased to almost 31 million deaths during the last year of data collection.
Image: Kent News

The study, published in The Lancet, was conducted by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Melbourne. Funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it “evaluates how much of the burden of disease observed in a given year can be attributed to past exposure to a risk.”

The researchers collaborated with an international consortium working on the Global Burden of Disease Project, providing a systematic analysis of the data collected.

The study took place from 1990 to 2013 in 188 countries. Researchers measured 79 risk factors that contributed to millions of deaths throughout the 23-year study, including behavioral, environmental, occupational, metabolic and clustered risks.

In 1990, these factors contributed to 25 million deaths. In 2013, the factors had killed almost 31 million people globally.

Previously, the major risk factors included unwashed hands, child and maternal malnutrition, and unsafe water and sanitation. By 2013, smoking, poor diet and high blood pressure have become the most prominent risk factors.

In Australia, the main risk factor is high blood pressure, followed by smoking and high body mass index. In men, the biggest growing risk factor is drug use. In women, the decrease in health is caused by diabetes-related illness, with a 68 percent increase since 1990. Diabetes-related illnesses and high body mass index as a cause of death has increased from 35 percent to 47 percent throughout the study.

Global Risk Factors

Data comes from the Global Burden of Disease Study, a comprehensive research project that assesses mortality and disability from illnesses, injuries, and risk factors.
Image: Enki Village

The top risk factors worldwide include:

• High body mass index is the main risk in the Middle East and Latin America.
• Household air pollution is a most serious health risk in South and Southeast Asia.
• Unsafe water and childhood malnutrition is the biggest risk in India.
• Alcohol use is the second major risk in Russia.
• Smoking causes the most damage in developed countries such as the United Kingdom.
• Child malnutrition, unsafe water, lack of sanitation, unsafe sex, and alcohol use are prominent health risks throughout sub-Saharan Africa.
• Child malnutrition is a global issue, accounting for one in five deaths of children under five-years-old.
• Unsafe sex is a worldwide risk, causing 82 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths and 94 percent of HIV/AIDS deaths in 15 to 19 year olds in 2013. The global burden of unsafe sex increased in 1990 and hit a high point in 2005.

In 2013, the highest number of deaths in the U.S. for both sexes include: 

“There’s great potential to improve health by avoiding certain risks like smoking and poor diet as well as tackling environmental risks like air pollution,” according to Dr. Christopher Murray, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) Director.

Murray believes that it is the responsibility of policymakers to enact progressive laws to prevent premature death.

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