Nearly everyday we learn about new negative health impacts from air pollution, particularly from fine particles like PM2.5 and for quite some time, I wanted to make a list of all these impacts with link to studies with evidence. So I was quite happy to see that researchers from the Imperial College’s Environmental Research Group published a paper last week titled “Impacts of air pollution across the life course”.
The report summarizes the health impacts at key stages of life development as following:
Pregnancy and birth outcomes:
- Fetal development
- Low birth weight
- Gestational age and preterm births
- Miscarriage
- Sperm count and mobility
The developing child: from birth, through Adolescence:
- Lung growth
- Asthma
- Blood pressure
- Cognitive abilities
- Inattention and hyperactivity
- Mental health and illness
Adulthood:
- Early death
- Cardiac health
- Stroke
- Brain and mental health
- Respiratory health
- Cancer
- Multiple chronic illnesses
All of these health impacts are described in detail with links to supporting studies, and I highly recommend this paper.
