New Research Links Pneumonia in Older People with Air Pollution

New research links long-term exposure to traffic emissions and industrial air pollution with hospitalization for pneumonia in people 65 and older.

Mark Loeb, a physician and director of the Infectious Diseases Division at McMaster University in Canada, and his team of researchers tested the effect of prolonged exposure to nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide – substances that are found in car exhaust – and fine particulate matter from industrial emissions on the likelihood of hospitalization for pneumonia in older people.

The research was conducted in Hamilton, the site of an industrial steel-making complex. Residents living near the complex are exposed to high levels fine particulate matter. The research team compiled annual average pollution levels from the industrial complex, plus levels of nitrogen dioxide from vehicle emissions, for the two years before hospitalization occurred.

The study found that exposure for more than a year to higher levels of nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter more than doubled the risk of hospitalization for pneumonia in those 65 and older. Pneumonia is one of the leading causes of illness and death in the elderly. In the United States, approximately 600,000 people are hospitalized with pneumonia each year.

The research results are scheduled to be published in the Jan. 1, 2010, issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.