Air Pollution

How Air Pollution affects our health

I am Dr. Rajiva Gupta, senior consultant in Internal Medicine and Diabetology. I have my own clinic at Upjaar Wellness, at Ashok Vihar Phase II, New Delhi. Today, we will discuss pollution. We all know, we keep on reading it on the news, in the media that pollution is creating a havoc in many parts of the country, Delhi is the worst affected by this.

Now, what is pollution? Pollution is the introduction of contaminants in our environment, be it air, water or soil. As far as human beings are concerned, they are most affected by the contamination in the air because this is the problem which all of us are encountering so frequently and it is at its peak. So, air pollution consists of solid particles in gases and many pollutants are carcinogens. Apart from these dire consequences, air pollution is also having a great effect on the lungs, the bronchial and heart which affects the quality of life, the productivity of life in the individual as well as its health consequences. People who are most affected by pollution are the elderly as I said in the beginning, elderly and the children.

Elderly people those who are already having diseases like cardiac diseases and lung disease, their pre-existing conditions get aggravated. Patients develop shortness of breath; many times they land up into hospitals. Patients who are having bronchitis or asthma, their conditions get aggravated, their usage of medicine gets increased and the quality of life suffers. In certain cases, they become critically ill and get admitted in Intensive Care Units. Till now, it was understood that the pollution only affects the lungs but recently we have come to know that it also affects the heart and the mechanism is not clearly known but then patients who suffer pollution or are exposed to pollution they have problems related to their heart such as heart failure, heart attack, etc., and they land up in hospital. So, we see that pollution has got a far reaching influence both on the quality of life; the seriousness of illnesses, and sometimes it may even cause mortality, not directly but indirectly.

How can pollution be prevented? Pollution prevention is a pretty tough task because it involves changes in the policy level, at the administrative level. On an individual basis, one can use masks so the best masks are called the N95 masks which are expensive but they claim to reduce the inhalation of pollutants. The use of air purifiers, again they have got a, they have a lot of controversy about how they are effective or not but certainly the weight of evidence suggests that to some extent they do help in getting down the prevalence and incidence of pollution related respiratory problems. So, therefore, people are advised not to go out for walks in the early mornings because that puts them at a greater risk of exposure to pollution and try to exercise at home. Usages of masks, installation of purifiers at home and at work places are the steps which could minimize the level of pollution.

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