Breathing in traffic pollution for years increases death rates, as study finds ‘strong connection’

Breathing in traffic pollution for years increases death rates, lung cancer and cases of new asthma in children and adults, an international evidence review has found.

The review led by the US Health Effects Institute (HEI) said it found strong connections between road air pollution and increased death rates.

A wider HEI review last year reached similar conclusions finding connections with lung cancer and cases of new asthma in children and adults.

Prof Barbara Hoffmann of the University of Düsseldorf, one of the authors of the review, said the evidence is “very clear” that road traffic “does not only kill via accidents but also via the air pollution vehicles emit.”

In the UK there were between 29,000 and 43,000 early deaths for adults aged 30 and over in 2019 from breathing polluted air.

For London the latest annual figure is between 3,600 and 4,100 attributable deaths.

The new review will add to the evidence that feeds into these assessments and will improve estimates for the changes from policies, such as low emission zones.

‘Regulations do not offset the increased congestion of motor vehicles’

The review panel found that few studies had addressed that even with schemes such as electrification, traffic will still produce particle pollution from the wear of tyres, roads, and to a lesser extent brakes.

Dr Hanna Boogaard, who led the review, said that “air quality regulations and improvements in vehicular emission-control technologies have contributed to decreases” but “those improvements do not fully offset the growth and increased congestion of the world’s motor vehicles”.

She added: “To date, almost all traffic pollution regulations are targeting tailpipe emissions. Vehicles also pollute by resuspending road dust, abrading road surfaces, and wearing brakes and tyres, which leads to emissions of metals such as iron and copper.”

The latest review scrutinised nearly 200 research studies that looked at air pollution and death rates including those from heart disease, stroke, respiratory problems and lung cancer.

It looked at the link with air pollution from traffic, adding to last year’s World Health Organization assessment.

The information from the review came from many sources including a study on more than 100,000 female teachers and school administrators in California, a 40-year analysis of nearly 400,000 people in the UK census, and more than 800,000 English general practitioner records.

It also included an analysis of the whole populations of Rome and Barcelona and studies on elderly people in Denmark and Japan.

This week, a report from Imperial College London highlighted that air pollution is “harmful” to everyone’s health no matter their age.

Ten years of studies showed exposure to certain particles leads to miscarriages, low sperm count, cancer and can stunt children’s lung growth.