Air pollution is linked to deadly diseases such as lung disease, cancer, heart disease and stroke, which is why it is being called "the new smoking".

But how much exactly can air pollution cut from our lives?

A new study by scientists shows that polluted outdoor air reduces our life expectancy by nearly three years on average, more than any earlier study found and more than the years lost to smoking.

The study, published in the journal Cardiovascular Research, says air pollution cuts average life expectancy by nearly ten times as much as all forms of violence, including war, do each year worldwide.

Scientists say annual deaths from air pollution will exceed deaths caused by smoking.

For the study they calculated average life expectancy and death rates in 2015, and found that air pollution killed 88 lakh people worldwide.

According to the World Health Organization, smoking kills more than 82 lakh people a year worldwide, more than 70 lakh of them directly through the use of cigarettes and tobacco products.

Living in polluted air makes people more prone to heart and lung disease, besides its other harmful effects on health.

The team's leader, Professor Thomas Munzel, believes their research proves that there is now a global pandemic of air pollution.

In a statement he said policymakers and doctors must now pay attention to the issue. "Over the past few decades, much less attention has been paid to air pollution than to smoking."

Professor Munzel says that if fossil fuel emissions alone could be brought down to zero, average life expectancy could rise by at least a year.

The study also found that the long-term effects of air pollution are felt at national and regional level. In East Asian countries, for example, average life expectancy has fallen by about four years, while the smallest fall was in Oceania.

The effect of air pollution varies from country to country. In Chad in Africa, air pollution has cut average life expectancy by more than seven years, while in Colombia it has fallen by a little over four months.

The researchers examined both man-made pollution and natural air pollution, such as that from desert dust storms and wildfires.

The study found that the pollution behind two-thirds of the world's premature deaths is mainly man-made.

Professor Munzel said: "This share can be as high as 80 per cent in high-income countries. That means about 55 lakh deaths a year worldwide could be avoided entirely if there were no air pollution."

The team also examined the link between air pollution and six kinds of disease, such as high blood pressure and lung cancer. They found that heart disease causes the most deaths, followed by lung infections, and that older people are most at risk of dying because of air pollution.

Another researcher, Jose Lelieveld, said: "When we looked at the diseases caused by air pollution, we saw that the greatest effect is on cardiovascular disease, that is, heart disease, almost equal to the damage smoking does to the heart."

"Air pollution damages the blood vessels of the heart by increasing oxidative stress, which then leads to high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attack and heart failure."

The researchers found that older people are hit hardest: 75 per cent of deaths from air pollution worldwide occur among people over 60.

Commenting on the findings, Samuel Chai, a senior epidemiologist at Oxford University, said the study proves how great a threat air pollution poses to health systems around the world.

"It is no secret that air pollution is the new smoking, so it is time for those working in public health to get serious about it."

He believes scientific research must now be used to make new policy.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.