[ad_1]
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have found that even low exposure to air pollution in England, Scotland and Wales appears to have an impact on the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) .
AMD is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in people over 50 in high income countries. AMD is linked to loss of central vision – needed to read, perform fine, detailed tasks, and recognize faces – and the biggest risk factors for the disease are genetics, old age, and smoking.
The team looked at data from 115,954 people aged 40 to 69, who had participated in UK Biobank, a large study of half a million people focusing on medical diagnoses and laboratory measurements of participants.
Using eye measurements and data from questionnaires, the experts studied those who said they had or did not have macular degeneration, then compared the results to the estimated amount of pollutants at their residential addresses.
“People who live in a more polluted area more frequently report macular degeneration,” Paul Foster, professor of glaucoma studies and ophthalmic epidemiology at UCL and lead author of the article, told CNN.
Foster said the main pollutants linked to macular degeneration were PM2.5 particles, nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen oxide.
PM2.5 are tiny particles of pollution that can penetrate deep into the lungs when inhaled and enter the bloodstream. Particles, consisting of dust, dirt, soot or smoke, come from construction sites, unpaved roads, fields, chimneys or fires and can contain different chemicals. But most particles are a mixture of pollutants from power plants, industrial emissions, and vehicles.
Oxides of nitrogen refer to gaseous nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide gas, as well as other gaseous oxides containing nitrogen. The main sources of these gases in urban areas are motor vehicle exhausts, indoor gas stoves and kerosene heaters.
Foster told CNN that the pollutants enter the body through the lungs and appear to cause special damage to the eyes due to high blood flow in the eye wall.
“It’s the people who breathe in the product, and it goes down into the lungs, gets absorbed into the blood, carried into the blood,” he said.
“There is definitely a relationship between the most disadvantaged members of society and a higher risk of contracting this disease,” he added.
Air pollution kills an estimated seven million people around the world each year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which says these deaths are largely due to increased death from stroke. , heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, acute lung and respiratory cancer. infections.
Chris Inglehearn, professor of molecular ophthalmology at the University of Leeds, said the UCL research was similar to a 2019 study from Taiwan. “Both show a link between air pollution and age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness in the elderly,” he told the Science Media Center.
“The profile of the pollutants examined by the two groups is slightly different but the source is the same, combustion. Of course, the correlation does not prove causation, but the fact that these two independent studies come to similar conclusions gives more confidence in the connection they make. is real, ”said Inglehearn, who was not involved in the UCL study.
Inglehearn said the studies “provide further evidence linking air pollution to adverse effects on human health.”
[ad_2]
Source link