Air Pollution In Cities Is Harming Non-Smoker's Lungs With 10 Cigarettes Worth Of Smoke Daily

If you're a non-smoker, you've probably at one time or another told your smoker friend that they're killing their lungs. And you'd of course be right about that. But the thing is, if you live in a bustling city, your respiratory system may not really be a whole lot better.

According to a new study from the US, long-term exposure to air pollution can worsen lung disease by as much as if you smoked a pack of cigarettes everyday.

Images courtesy: Reuters

The researchers looked at over 7,000 adults between the ages of 45 to 84 living in six US cities, and how constant exposure to four main pollutants in the air affected their lung health. That included fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, black carbon and ozone. Aside from testing the levels of these pollutants outside their homes, the researchers also regularly carried out CT scans to track the development of their emphysema and lung decline.

Emphysema is a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It's basically described by damage to the air sacs in your lungs, making it hard for you to catch your breath. It also manifests as a chronic cough or having trouble breathing during exercise.

The scientists studied the participants for 10 years on average and found that long-term exposure to all of the pollutants was linked to an increased percentage of emphysema seen on a CT scan.

The worst was with the presence of ground level ozone, which starkly declined lung function by as much as smoking a pack a day for 29 years.

"We were surprised to see how strong air pollution's impact was on the progression of emphysema on lung scans, in the same league as the effects of cigarette smoking, which is by far the best-known cause of emphysema," said senior co-author Dr Joel Kaufman, from the University of Washington.

To clarify, ground-level ozone is produced when UV light reacts with pollutants from fossil fuels, a process that's sped up by heat waves. Now you can quit smoking, but for the most part you can't avoid air pollution. Which means there isn't much you can do to avoid lung disease.

And though most levels of pollution are going down across the world thanks to efforts to battle climate change, ozone levels have been rising, the scientists say.

So until we completely switch over from fossil fuels and take real action, we're still all at risk.