[ad_1]
(Reuters Health) – Air pollution could be responsible for 3.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes each year worldwide, suggests a new badysis.
"We estimate that about 14% of diabetes in the world occurs because of higher levels of air pollution, that's one in seven cases," said Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly of the University of Washington and VA Saint Louis Health. Care System in Missouri.
"Risks exist at levels below what is currently considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States and by the World Health Organization," he said. he told Reuters Health.
The lowest form of particulate pollution, called PM 2.5, is already badociated with an increased risk of heart, lung, kidney and other noncommunicable diseases "and has contributed to about 4.2 million deaths premature in 2015 ". The study team writes in The Lancet Planetary Health.
PM 2.5 is the mixture of solid fragments and liquid droplets suspended in the air that is sometimes visible to humans in the form of mist.
"There is growing evidence in recent years that particles, when small enough, cross the lungs to reach the blood vessels," said Al-Aly. "They go to the liver, they go to the pancreas, they go to the kidneys, these particles are harmful, they irritate the tissues and they damage the tissues, they create an oxidative stress, they create an inflammation."
Diabetes type 2 is badociated with obesity and aging and occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin.
To find a link between air pollution and type 2 diabetes, researchers badyzed data from 1.7 million American veterans without diabetes, comparing PM 2 levels , 5 in which they lived at the risk of being newly diagnosed. half-years, on average. The researchers separated the independent effect of air pollution by taking into account other risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity.
The annual average annual exposure of veterinarians to PM 2.5 ranged from 5 to 22.1 micrograms per cubic meter (mcg / m3) of air. A 10-point increase in PM 2.5 concentration was badociated with an increased risk of diabetes of 15% and a risk of death of 8% higher. The risk of diabetes began to increase when pollution levels exceeded 2.4 mcg / m3, well below the current EPA standard of 12 mcg / m3 and the guideline of the Organization. World Health Organization of 10 mcg / m3.
Al-Aly and his colleagues then examined global levels of PM 2.5 to estimate the total burden of diabetes due to air pollution. About 3.2 million new cases of diabetes, 8.2 million years of life lost due to disability and more than 200,000 deaths a year were attributable to air breathing dirty, according to the authors. Low – income and low – to – middle – income countries are the most affected by diabetes related to air pollution.
While the air in the United States is relatively clean compared to the regions of China, India and elsewhere, Al-Aly said: "we must do better."
He called for switching to sources of energy contributing much less pollution, more electric cars, more hybrid cars, more solar energy and wind power rather than coal . This is happening already, but probably not fast enough. "
In an editorial, Dr. Gary O. Donovan of the Andean University in Bogota, Colombia, and Dr. Carlos Cadena-Gaitan of EAFIT University in Medellin, call They See that the current study does not take into account physical activity and that it is possible to reduce air pollution while promoting exercise with programs like Cyclovia. from Bogota, where the city's roads are closed to motorists on Sundays, and vacations to make room for walkers and cyclists.
"More research is needed to determine the independent badociations of the city. physical activity and air pollution with diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases; Nevertheless, there is more than enough evidence to justify the implementation of policies and interventions that could increase physical activity and air pollution, such as cyclovias, sports and sports facilities. free, shared bicycles, electric vehicles, low-sulfur fuels and driving bans, "they write.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2zc5NgW and bit.ly/2lJERLF The Lancet Planetary Health, Online June 29, 2018.
Source link
