Air pollution a major source of lung diseases, needs to be controlled: Health experts

Air pollution has become a major source of lung diseases and plays a major part in exacerbating other ailments such as diabetes and sleep apnea, health experts said on Tuesday and called for measures to control it.

There is an urgent need to control it in summer months to ensure air pollution woes do not impact people in the winter, they stated.

On the second day of the ‘Illness to Wellness’ summit organised by ASSOCHAM Foundation for CSR, medical practitioners shared their views on how air pollution has become a major source of lung diseases and also plays a major part in exacerbating other ailments.

In a session titled ‘Depleting Air Quality Index: A Potent Threat to Health and Environment’, air pollution’s deadly impact was discussed to throw light on the gravity of the situation.

Speaking in the session, Dr G C Khilnani, Chairman, PSRI Institute of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, PSRI Hospital, Delhi, said, “Long-term effects of air pollution on lungs are very worrying. Around 30 years ago, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) meant nothing.” “Today, COPD is one of the leading causes of deaths and a major reason is air pollution. The number of patients being admitted to emergency due to COPD diseases has also increased by over 20 percent due to air pollution.” Household air pollution also causes deaths which not many people are aware of, he said.

“Respiratory diseases have increased due to air pollution and there is an urgent need to control air pollution in summer months to ensure air pollution woes do not impact people in winter,” Dr Khilani said.

Dr Vivek Nangia, Principal Director and Head, Institute of Respiratory, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine and Chief of Pulmonology, Cluster 1, Max Healthcare, said, “Air pollution also plays a part in aggravating existing ailments. For instance, with diabetes, a co-relation has been found with the duration of exposure to air pollution. So far we have attributed rise in diabetes patients to lifestyle issues, obesity and diet issues.

But now, a very preventive risk factor that is coming into play is air pollution.” Studies have found that there has been a rise in diabetes patients after being continuously exposed to rising levels of air pollution. Sleep apnea is another big issue that people are facing to air pollution.” The ASSOCHAM Awareness Summit aims to disseminate information on identified and critical health-related issues, thereby fostering overall well-being.