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Science

Air Pollution Linked To Higher Risk of Autoimmune Diseases (theguardian.com) 21

Long-term exposure to air pollution can increase the risk of autoimmune disease, research has found. From a report: Exposure to particulates has already been linked to strokes, brain cancer, miscarriage and mental health problems. A global review, published in 2019, concluded that almost every cell in the body could be affected by dirty air. Now researchers at the University of Verona have found that long-term exposure to high levels of air pollution was associated with an approximately 40% higher risk of rheumatoid arthritis, a 20% higher risk of inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, and a 15% higher risk of connective tissue diseases, such as lupus. The study, published in the journal RMD Open, took comprehensive medical information about 81,363 men and women on an Italian database monitoring risk of fractures between June 2016 and November 2020. About 12% were diagnosed with an autoimmune disease during this period.
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Air Pollution Linked To Higher Risk of Autoimmune Diseases

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  • I believe it. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Rayfield k. ( 8918519 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @01:56PM (#62363715)

    I live in a smaller town next to a refinery. Everyone knows someone with an autoimmune disease. Two of my past girlfriends had one. Several of my friends. Then I was diagnosed with one in my late 20s.
    The really fun part is that some of the medications used to treat autoimmune disease can themselves cause drug induced lupus, such as inflectra/remicade.

    • Refineries don't seem to put much particulate matter in the air on their own. I check PM2.5 maps almost daily to plan my outdoor activities. It appears to be correlated with large concentrations of cars on the road. Blankets the entire metro area and peaks around rush hour.

      Of course there's a bunch of other stuff they put into the air. But this study looked at particulate matter. Burning the oil seems to be worse than refining it when it comes to particulates.

      Anyway, here's the tool I use to check how the a

      • I wonder if it has more to do with our large marine industry then. I imagine thousands of older and inefficient diesel engines can't be healthy. The 2-stroke diesel jimmys are particularly smokey until they warm up.

        • It's probably something other than particulates, unless the levels hit 20-30ug on a regular basis. In the US, that seems to be limited to the top 4 or 5 largest cities. (And for some reason the Great Lakes... haven't totally figured out that one yet.) Most places in the US stay down in the single digits.

          For comparison, the countryside in India is usually at 30-50ug, cities are 200+. The Sahara desert is always at 500+.

  • Externalized costs (Score:4, Insightful)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday March 16, 2022 @02:13PM (#62363811)
    we let car companies and oil/gas pollute without paying the costs. We all pay higher fees for health care and take a hit to productivity (to say nothing of the damage lead in the air has done) while they reap the profits and live in palatial estates with clean air and water.

    Meanwhile everyone vilifies the one guy who invented leaded gas while ignoring the 100 years of CEOs who know about the problem and bribed politicians to let them keep poisoning us. Clever blame shifting we fall for every time...

    Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. Always the same crap with humans...

    • Furthermore, MBA schools have further refined the of creating artificial sociopaths; or "Little Eichmann" who can dodge their humanity and fuel the irony of "business ethics." I've observed two friends change for the worse after that degree... cost externalization is their mantra along with "it's only business." Like a professional killer saying "don't take it personal" when they try to kill you.

      The corporate advancement process (and culture) favors the people who are the best at blame shifting and credit

  • People who live in cities, where there is high air pollution, have higher rates of asthma when compared to people living outside the city.

    It's almost as if dumping on the body with all kinds of toxic and semi-toxic chemicals produces unwanted health effects

  • Wonder what the likely mechanisms are -- that lead from air pollution to the autoimmune conditions. Could excessive secretion of mucus to trap particulate matter play a part? Or inflammation of airways?

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