Health Effects of Air Pollution

Running Head: Health Effects of Air Pollution
Assessment
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Health Effects of Air Pollution 2
Research Question
“How does the Air pollution in Australia affect public health?”
Search Strategy
The literature was searched from Pubmed, CINAHL and MEDLINE databases with help of the
search terms (air quality OR air pollution) AND (global warming OR climate change OR
precipitation OR climat*) AND (health OR australia)). The search was performed to retrieve the
peer reviewed journals between 2012 and 2018. The search fetched 152 articles which were
sorted using the relevant inclusion and exclusion criteria. The studies describing two of the three
topics (like health impacts or outdoor air quality or climate change) in Australia or Sydney were
included in the search. The data was retrieved in English language only. The articles related to
other types of pollution were not included. The duplicates in the database were removed and the
articles were checked for the eligibility by screening the journal titles and the abstract. The
instances where inclusion criteria was met, to satisfy the content, the data was retrieved from the
articles. If the abstract did not include Australia or Sydney and the content had these terms, the
article was collected. The articles discussing the relationship between the air pollution in Sydney
and meteorological variables or impact of temperature or Air pollution in Australia were
included. Thus, the search terms revealed the articles which may not mention explicitly the
climate change but had included useful data related to exposure response association. The studies
elaborating the impact of pollution on non human living beings were eliminated. Review articles
were also included along with the original articles.
Findings

Health Effects of Air Pollution 3
The findings were revealed that air pollution affects the cardio-respiratory function of the body
which may range from minor respiratory distress to enhanced mortality and hospital
readmissions (Stacy, 2017). The use of biomass and coal has been associated with extreme levels
of indoor and outdoor air pollution in developed countries. The fuel industry has been burning
coal to produce electricity in several countries like China and India. Moreover, traffic congestion
has also been contributing to air pollution.
The major air pollutants in Australia and worldwide are particulate matter (PM), Carbon
Monoxide, Ozone, Nitrogen Oxide, Air toxics etc. Chemical composition and size of the
pollutants plays a significant role in causing cardiorespiratory effects specially the size smaller
than 1 miu meter and 2.5 miu meter (Armstrong, 2012). They can penetrate deeper into the body
adversely affecting the respiratory system. Exposure to carcinogenic air pollutants (like benzene)
for long term causes cancer. Fuel combustion produces carbon dioxide which is the major green
house gas affecting the climate change. In Australia, vehicle borne CO2 emission contributes to
green house gas emissions. According to American Thoracic Society (ATS) the air pollution
impacts the adverse health effects like loss of respiratory function, hospital readmissions,
mortality and also deteriorates the quality of life. The major adverse health impacts of air
pollution are as follows:
1. Increases mortality
2. Increases the incidence of lung cancer
3. Enhances the incidence of lower respiratory tract infections
4. Decreases pulmonary efficiency
5. Increases the prevalence of chest tightness