This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise to people, but researchers have found that prolonged exposure to higher levels of the pollution, particularly car exhaust fumes and industrial air pollution, can lead to pneumonia in seniors. This pneumonia may be severe enough to require admission to hospital.
Researchers from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, studied 365 seniors from the city of Hamilton, Ontario area to see if there was a connection between pollution and pneumonia. Their study findings will be published in early January 2010 in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The researchers found that exposure for more than 12 months to higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter of less than 2.5 micrometres more than doubled the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia in adults aged 65 and older.
Nitrogen dioxide is reportedly the major contributor to smog and results from the burning of fossil fuels.
Pneumonia is a great risk to young children, people with chronic illnesses or who have problems with their immune system, and the elderly. It is listed as one of the leading causes of death among the elderly.
The connection between pollution and pneumonia is a serious one, not only as the population ages in the developed countries – many of which have had issues with pollution – but as developing countries begin burning more fossil fuels in an effort to advance themselves.
Symptoms of pneumonia may include:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Shaking chills
- Chest pain that fluctuates with breathing (pleurisy)
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Fatigue
Ironically, people in high-risk groups such as older adults and people with chronic illnesses or weakened immune systems may have fewer or milder symptoms than less vulnerable people do. And instead of having the high fever that often characterizes pneumonia, older adults may even have a lower than normal temperature. (MayoClinic.com)
~~~
Image: PhotoXpress.com
Post from: Blisstree