Rising air pollution has increased the number of deaths of youth, the risk of asthma has increased by 21%

According to a comprehensive global study on asthma, amidst the growing threat of air pollution in North India, there has been an unimaginable surge in the number of deaths due to asthma. Long-term exposure to certain pollutants like PM 2.5 has gone on to increase cases of asthma, which has caused 1.20 lakh additional deaths across the world, according to researchers who reviewed 68 studies. In India, China, and Southeast Asia, the number of deaths due to asthma is very high. According to experts, to reduce the noxious effects of air pollution, effective policies need to be framed and implemented by the policymakers with immediate effect.

Several researchers said that one-third of asthma cases in the world in 2019 were due to long-term exposure to particulate matter 2.5 present in polluted air. The study was conducted between 2019 and 2023 in 22 countries, which include many countries in South Asia besides India and China. Based on the findings, experts warn that policymakers will have to make immediate strict laws to fight the effects of air pollution.

These studies have shown that the higher the pollution particulates, such as PM 2.5, in the air, the greater one's chance of having asthma during older childhood and adulthood. For every addition of 10 μg/m3, the risk increases by 21%. When people have asthma, they have a number of problems, including difficulty breathing, wheezing, coughing, and chest tightness, which makes their lives very hard to bear.

While analyzing such studies, researchers said many important things about the effects on children due to PM 2.5. According to them, their analysis, published in the One Earth journal, said that due to the long-term effect of PM 2.5, the risk of asthma increases in children and adults. 30 percent of such asthma cases in the world are related to these. According to them, even before entering adulthood, the lungs and immune system of a person are still in the developing stages. This is why children are more exposed to air pollution. If they continuously stay under its influence alone, it may provoke problems in the respiratory tract.

According to the estimation by author Ruijing Ni from The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, in 2019, long-term exposure to PM 2.5 was a major contributor in one-third of the asthma cases in the world. Out of 6.35 crore people affected by asthma, 1.14 crore were new ones. The researchers said that previous studies have proved that PM 2.5 pollution has put an additional burden on the population of very low-income countries. The authors also mentioned that despite low levels of PM 2.5, cases of asthma are increasing in North America and Western Europe. Co-author Yafang Chang, director of The Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, says wearing a mask as a personal measure to tackle air pollution itself can ward off the danger of asthma.

Actually, PM 2.5 refers to minute particles floating in the air, such as dust or smoke. These are so minute that their entities cannot be seen with our naked eyes. These particles cause air pollution mainly.