Elena Meli
Among the consequences of air pollution there are also those on the nervous system and insomnia, with worsening of depression and even night rest
The poisoned air of the cities takes your breath away, but not only that. The list of damages caused by smog continues to grow: during the latest RespiraMI conference, which was held in recent days in Milan to take stock of the effects of pollution on health, further evidence emerged of how harmful pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and atmospheric particulates.
What is now especially worrying are the consequences on mental health and the brain, which until some time ago were not included among the targets of smog: the data from the DeprAir study, coordinated by Michele Carugno of the Irccs Ca’ Granda Foundation – Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan, demonstrate for example out of approximately 500 patients with depression that the symptoms of the mood disorder worsen when the air is dirtier.
If the air is more polluted, depression worsens
With an increase of 10 micrograms per cubic meter of nitrogen dioxide, the main sources of which are car traffic and heating, depression worsens and so does social functioning; with a similar increase in particulate levels the effects are evident especially in those who have a more unstable balance because for example they have other chronic pathologies with a fair level of general inflammation, such as diabetes. And when the air is more polluted, appetite and sleep also worsen in those suffering from depression.
«These, together with many other data that have emerged in recent times, confirm that we must act at a personal, community and political level to reduce smog», observes Sergio Harari, director of the Pneumology and Internal Medicine operational unit of the San Giuseppe MultiMedica of Milan and scientific co-coordinator of the RespiraMI conference.
Effects of smog on fetuses and children
Harari continues: «We cannot stop breathing, but on days when there are peaks in smog, for example, we can protect ourselves by going out with FFP2 masks. Even simple common sense rules can help: it is better not to do physical activity such as running in areas with heavy traffic, if you have small children you should prefer strollers that keep them higher than road level.”
An essential caution because, for example, a Danish study conducted in 2023 on one million children and young people up to the age of 19 shows that early exposure to smog, even at levels that are not necessarily high, increases the risk of getting asthma. Not to mention the effects of pollution on those who haven’t even been born yet: Spanish research that followed around a thousand future mothers and their babies found that exposure to smog during pregnancy has effects on the brain development of the fetus and then of the baby afterwards. birth, modifying parameters such as nervous connections and motor and cognitive development. A fact that confirms what has emerged from studies.
How to improve air quality (indoor and outdoor)
“We are not as helpless as we think in the face of the smog in our cities,” says Harari. «For example, we can do a lot to improve the quality of indoor air, where we spend most of our time: examples of good habits are airing rooms early in the morning, when there are few cars even on the busiest streets; enrich the environments with greenery, which purifies the air; limit the use of stoves and fireplaces or at least check that they are well installed and that maintenance is correct. «Other daily choices also affect air quality much more than we believe and we are all called to commit: choosing sustainable mobility, not eating out-of-season foods or reducing the consumption of intensively bred animals are all means that each of us we have to contribute decisively to improving the air we breathe”, he concludes.
However, the heart and lungs remain the first “victims”
The heart and lungs are the first “victims” of smog: nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter are held directly responsible for an increased risk of cardiovascular events such as strokes and heart attacks, as well as respiratory diseases and lung cancer. New data presented at the RespiraMI congress also underline that global warming can further exacerbate the consequences of smog on the heart and vessels, because with the increase in temperatures the pollutants become even more harmful on the cardiovascular system. Interventions aimed at reducing traffic can, however, protect citizens’ health: in Germany, for example, a study in 69 cities showed that the introduction of limited traffic zones reduced heart problems by 2-3 percent and by 7 -12 percent strokes, especially in the elderly.
In Milan those who live in the suburbs suffer more
Polluted air kills more in the suburbs than in the city center: this is indicated by research by the Health Protection Agency of Milan which in the Lombardy capital has created, neighborhood by neighborhood, a mapping of the levels of pollutants and the related effects on mortality . The 2019 data show a higher rate of deaths attributable to nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter in some peripheral areas of Milan, in particular those crossed by very busy and densely populated roads, with many elderly citizens, while the areas suffer less suburbs where there are more vegetable gardens, sports and green spaces or a lower population density. Beyond the impact on individual neighborhoods, the high number of deaths due to cardiovascular, respiratory and lung cancer causes attributable to smog is evident: in Milan alone at least 3 thousand deaths a year. The estimates for the rest of Italy are no better, on the contrary: chronic exposure to PM2.5 in concentrations above 5 milligrams per cubic meter causes over 72 thousand deaths a year, of which almost 40 thousand in the Po Valley.
April 1, 2024
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