A 2019 study from Harvard looked at hospital admissions linked to air pollution among people receiving Medicare in the Southeast for fine particles (PM2.5) (particles smaller than 2.5 microns) and ozone.
The study found that with increased annual PM2.5 exposure (long-term fine particle exposure), there were significant increases in hospitalizations for people receiving Medicare, for every condition researchers analyzed: strokes, heart attack (myocardial infarction), heart failure, pneumonia, COPD, and lung cancer. Even at PM2.5 levels BELOW THE CURRENT STANDARD of 12μg/m3, they found that PM2.5 put more people in the hospital.
The same was true for ozone – ozone put people receiving Medicare in the hospital for all the conditions they studied, including heart attacks (myocardial infarctions) and heart failure, and they found increased hospital admissions for many conditions in areas where ozone NEVER WENT ABOVE THE CURRENT STANDARD.
The researchers were able to determine the percent increase in people receiving Medicare who were hospitalized in the Southeast for each condition per unit increase in air pollution (1μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 1ppb for ozone):
Air Pollution Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Condition . . . . . . . . . % increase in hospitalizations in S.E. in people receiving Medicare
per 1 μg/m3 increase average annual PM2.5. . . . . . pneumonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COPD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lung cancer . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.8%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart attack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3%
per 1ppb increase in average annual Ozone . . . . . . pneumonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.0%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . COPD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lung cancer . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart attack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3%
The researchers were able to determine the percent increase in hospitalizations for air pollution at levels BELOW THE CURRENT STANDARD of 12 μg/m3 for average annual PM2.5, and for areas where ALL DAYS WERE BELOW THE CURRENT STANDARD for daily ozone (70ppb).
Air Pollution Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . Condition . . . . . . . . . % increase in hospitalizations in S.E. in people receiving Medicare
per 1 μg/m3 increase average annual PM2.5. . . . . . pneumonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1%
in areas where average annual PM2.5 <12μg/m3 . . . . COPD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lung cancer . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart attack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6%
per 1ppb increase in average annual Ozone . . . . . . pneumonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.0%
in zip codes where all days had ozone <70ppb . . . . . . . COPD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.4%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . lung cancer . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . not statistically significant
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stroke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0.8%
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart attack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . not statistically significant
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . heart failure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1%
This study included the following states in the Southeast: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
This study found increased hospitalizations for many conditions for each small change in ozone or PM2.5 pollution. It found increased hospitalizations at levels BELOW the current standards. There was no level of air pollution where they found no change in hospitalization. Air pollution caused hospitalizations at every level they studied.
This study clearly shows that clean air will protect the health of people living in the Southeast. Studies like this are why we say: Healthy Air Is Healthcare. Reducing air pollution will keep people out of the hospital.
Read the study from Harvard here.
07/28/2021
