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Health @ Home
Can mother nature make it hard to
breathe?
There is a tendency to associate breathing problems with
man-made pollutants like car exhaust or factory smoke stacks. However, a new study in The
Lancet suggests that Mother Nature can make it hard to breathe as well.
Investigators in the Netherlands have conducted a study
to chart the relationship between airborne pollen levels and deaths due to cardiovascular
disease, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and pneumonia. They used data from
their Central Bureau of Statistics to determine deaths and air pollution data from the
National Institute of Public Health.
An average of 332 people died daily from respiratory
diseases during the study period. The researchers found that there was an association
between the concentrations of one type of pollen and daily deaths due to COPD and
pneumonia, while other pollens were also associated with mortality. Scientists think that
the association between pollen and death might occur because the small pollen particles
act to inflame already sensitive lung tissue.
"Our findings ... if substantiated ... suggest that
high airborne pollen concentrations, which nowadays are mainly seen as triggers of
allergic symptoms, may have far more serious effects than previously thought," the
study authors conclude. |
