Study links air pollution to several new causes of hospital admissions

Short term exposure to fine particulate matter in the air (known as PM_2.5) is associated with several newly identified causes of hospital admissions, even at levels below international air quality guidelines, according to a new study.1

The paper, published in The BMJ, looked at the risks and costs of hospital admission associated with fine particulate matter. It found that exposure was linked to several prevalent but rarely studied causes of hospital admissions, such as septicemia, fluid and electrolyte disorders, acute and unspecified renal failure, and intestinal obstruction without hernia.

The researchers, from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, are now calling for the World Health Organization to revise its air quality guidelines in response.

WHO’s current air quality guideline for 24 hour average exposure …