Health Effects of Air Pollution | Essay

RUNNING HEAD: IMPACTS OF AIR POLLUTION ON HUMAN HEALTH
Health Effects of Air Pollution
Name
Institutional affiliation

Health Impacts of Air Pollution 2
INTRODUCTION
This research provides an understanding of particulate matter and other atmospheric pollutants in
the changing world. Global change affects air quality and environmental quality in many ways;
changes in land use, emissions, and climate change. These affect human health and also affect
the strategies employed to protect the environment and health. Particulate matter arouses the
concern of public health because of its widespread and toxicity. They are generated from
combustion sources or formed through atmospheric transformation. The international study was
performed using case studies and secondary sources to estimate the global representative
association of exposure to pollutants and health effects such as mortality.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Does the population (P) not exposed to air pollution eliminates (I) health related issues
compared(C) to those exposed and experiencing health problems?
LITERATURE REVIEW
Air that people breathe comprises emissions from various sources such as vehicles, industries,
commercial sources, tobacco smoke, and household fuels. Air pollution is harmful to the
vulnerable, such as older people, children or those with health problems. The epidemiological
indication suggesting that severe health impacts are reliant on the exposure concentration and
exposure duration. Ambient air pollutants have been related to many health impacts such as
death, cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions, asthma attacks and lung cancers
(Ayala, et al.,2011).
Current contamination by particulate matters generated from the anthropogenic sources causes
the reduction of life expectancy and many deaths. Air pollutants are responsible for several

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death, admission to the hospitals and cardiovascular problems (Kagawa,2010). The direct
exposure route to air pollutants is the respiratory tract. Large particles land in the proximal
airway and the fine ones are deposited in the alveoli via the lungs. Ultrafine particles can reach
the bloodstream from where they can be distributed into the organs of the body, including the
brain, and may present neurotoxic effects (Röllin, 2017).
Air pollution still stands as the main health risk and it was approximated to cause many
premature deaths annually. Cardiovascular disease is among the main death cause in the world,
especially in highly industrialized countries. Observation from the scientific reports proved the
impacts of air pollution on premature birth, retardation of the intrauterine fetus growth, stillbirth,
and birth of newborns with disorders and ow body weight (Suh, et al.,2012).
SEARCH STRATEGY
The research methodology adopted for this research on the health effects of air pollution is the
qualitative method which includes secondary sources and case studies. For the study on the
pollutants and their effects to be relevant and and convincing, the previous data must be used to
analyses how the situation of pollution has been for the past years. It is the kind of study that
cannot be analyzed by the present information only and that is why secondary sources that are
already published and case studies were used as the search strategy for this study (Ferris, 2012).
Secondary sources: this involves the use of books, peer-reviewed journal articles, and internet
sources to get information that discusses health impacts of air pollutants . In these secondary
sources, the original data and information are arranged, selected and modified in a good format
through interpretation, evaluation, generalization, and analysis. These secondary sources will
help in information collection that is related to air pollutants and their impacts on health. The

Health Impacts of Air Pollution 4
published information on the impacts of air pollutions on human health was used from the
electronic health records to assign the estimated risks based the levels of pollutants (Gumy and
mudu, 2018).
Case studies are research methods that involve in-depth detailed and up-close examination of a
certain case by following a formal method of research. The case studies that were being
examined in this research included the health impacts of air pollutants. Through these case
studies, types of air pollutants, affected population, and health impacts were analyzed (Garimna,
2018). According to the case studies and secondary sources, data of mortality was gotten from
the local authority within every region and the death causes were grouped according to codes of
international disease classification.
The examination of the health records alongside measurement of the air pollution in the street
was done. The data was collected routinely to better understand the how air pollutants
contributed to the health problems so that the solutions can be developed. Other studies that were
performed by environmental organization as their basic research was used in this study to
provide the existing information on levels of air pollutants and their impacts.
RESULTS
Authors Research
setting
Study design Study population Exposure Outcome
(White,
Clarkson, &
Chang, 2010)
New
Orleans
Interview with
occupants of the
buildings
Sampling and
analysis of air
Survey of building
ventilations
500 building residence
of New Orleans
Indoor air
pollutants
Respiratory and cardiovascular health issues
(Ray & Lahiri,
2010)
City of
Kolkata
Interviews
Use of questionnaires
Data on hospital
admissions and
deaths
932 nonsmoking
residents of the city
with health problems
and 812 gender and
age matched rural
Outdoor air
pollutants
Most people were exposed to vehicular
pollution. Urban subjects had more health
problems compared to rural subjects
Heart attack, cardiovascular system and
stroke, lung cancer,respiratoy and

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subject as the control pulmonary diseases, impact on reproductive
system(Particulate matter),Impact on
spleen, liver and blood(nitrogen dioxide),
irritation of eye, breathing problems,
headache and impact on nervous system(all
pollutants)
(Türk &
Kavraz, 2010)
city of
Trabzon
Examining numbers
of people admitted to
the hospitals
respective of the life
stages i.e. pregnancy,
children, adult and
elderly.
Vulnerable group such
as pregnant women,
children and elderly
Outdoor air
pollution
Parallel increase in air pollution and
vulnerability of the groups increased the
cases of respiratory diseases, pneumonia,
etc.
Pregnancy-Low birth weights
Children-Asthma, lung problem, more
coughs
Adults-stroke, coronary heart disease,
bronchitis and diabetes, lung cancer
Elderly-decline in lung function, dementia,
strokes, heart failure, heart attacks, lung
cancer and diabetes.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF STUDIES FOUND
The exposure to the particulate matter reduces the average life expectancy and leads to loss of
life annually. People from the cities that are less polluted live long with less health effects than
those residing in more polluted cities. There is relationship between the ambient yearly
concentration of pollutants and age-specific death risks. An increase of one microgram per cubic
meter of PM 2.5 showed an average loss of life expectancy of around two days per person
(Garima., 2018).
The estimate of the health impacts of pollutants exposures to adults was directly related to the
increase in the mortality especially in the long term exposure. The premature deaths attributed to
pollutants exposure is very high in both developed and developing countries. Air pollution has
been well documented to increase morbidity and mortality from the cardiorespiratory conditions
(Babatola, 2018). The results also showed that the effects depend on the duration of exposure
and concentration of pollutants; long duration exposure has severe impacts compared to short
duration exposure. (Terris, 2010).

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The results have confirmed a strong association between levels of air pollutants and the risks of
early deaths from heart attacks disease. Air pollution has been associated to and vasoconstriction,
high blood pressure, coagulant and prothrombotic changes, systemic inflammatory, and stress of
oxidative response and progression of atherosclerosis (Oudin, 2017)
Air pollution is responsible for low birth weight which is the cause of developing adulthood
coronary health disease, diabetes, and hypertension. There was an increase in risks of LBW in
infants born to women residing in the cities with high air pollution level particularly those
exposed more exhaust from motor vehicles from heavy traffics (Szyszkowicz, 2013).
Air pollution has been linked to serious complications in the immune system such as
immunoglobulin serum level. Immunotoxicants cause immune dysfunction and serve as a basis
for increased risks of many diseases. Chronic exposure to air pollutant is linked to the dry eye
syndrome, eye irritation and blinding. Pollutants also affect the skin aging and cause pigmented
spots on the face.
BIOLOGICAL PLAUSIBILITY
This is the component method of reasoning that make relationship of causes and effects between
particular disease or adverse event and a biological factor. The plausible biological mechanism
selected for this study is air pollution. This is plausible since it has effects on human health such
as respiratory, cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. There is biological plausibility in the
research question because according to the results from the previous studies, mostly people who
are exposed to the air pollutants are the ones suffering from diseases of respiratory,
cardiovascular, lung cancers etc. (Ayala, et al., 2011).

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GAPS IN THE LITERATURE AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTION
The lack of studies on the chronic impacts of long term exposure to air pollution is a major
research gap. Better knowledge on the determinants of their frequency and susceptibility in the
population targeted could be done to help in designing the best approach of reducing risks in the
face of constraints. Researches on the improved surveillance registration of main chronic and
acute diseases related with air pollutant should be done to allow health impact assessment to
quantify the main impact.
CONCLUSION
Air pollutants have serious effects on human health, imposing many diseases causing high deaths
and morbidity. Controlling air pollution should be taken seriously and should be the priority of
both developing and developed countries. Policymakers and legislators of different countries
should update all the regulations and laws related to pollution of air. The environmental
conservation agencies should have adequate funds for research, and conservation of environment
through sustainability (Jun, 2010).

Health Impacts of Air Pollution 8
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