Key points from article :
People living in polluted areas were more likely to have more than one long-term illness.
Found greater chances of neurological, respiratory, cardiovascular and common mental health conditions (depression and anxiety).
England plans to meet the 2005 WHO guidelines in 18 years’ time.
An extra 20% chance of multiple long-term illnesses for those living with particle pollution that is worse than the 2040 England target.
Seventy years ago, London was coping with the deaths of about 12,000 people in the city’s worst ever smog.
A 20% greater chance of asthma in childhood, compared with those outside London; chances of adult asthma increased by ~10%.
Air pollution had been reducing the height and health of soldiers who grew up downwind of areas of intense coal use.
“...an opportunity to shape the epidemic of multiple long-term illness using environmental policy such as expanding low-emission zones or avoiding building care homes in pollution hotspots,” - Ioannis Bakolis, lead study author.
The benefits of clean air could be even greater than we imagine.
Study by King's College London published in Frontiers in Public Health.
