Jan 22 2009
Cleaner air increases life expectancy
Want to live longer? First mind the air that you breathe! Yes, there is a direct relation between air pollution and longevity. In fact, cleaner air added about five months to life expectancy in the US over two decades. This is not my own words, but the bottom line of the findings of a new study done by researchers from Brigham Young University and Harvard School of Public Health.
During the study period of 1980 and 2000, the researchers compared data collected on changes in air pollution and the life expectancies of residents in 51 US cities. They also considered other factors such as changes in demographics, income, migration, smoking and education, which could possibly affect the life span of the residents.
The researchers found that after extensive clean-ups of highly polluted cities, life expectancy in the residents increased by 10 months. And by end of the study, life expectancy had increased up to five-months in several US cities due to reduced air pollution. On average life expectancy increased by three years between 1980 and 2000 in those US cities.
In 1970, the Clean Air Act gave the Environmental Protection Agency the power to set and enforce national standards to protect people from deadly pollutants on air. The law promoted extensive clean-ups in polluted cities and during the 1980s and 1990s, PM2.5 (pollutants less than 2.5 microns in diameter) levels fell from 21 micrograms per cubic meter of air to 14 micrograms per cubic meter in those 51 US cities. The researchers found that reduction of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of pollutants added seven months to the life expectancy of a person living in a city.
So, the findings of this interesting study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, provides a solid evidence that mitigating air pollution has positive effects on public health. Everyone must give attention towards this fact and provide their support to pollution control programs. The rest of the world can also learn a lot from the findings of this study. What you say?
Via: New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org
