Health implications due to exposure to fine and ultra-fine particulate matters: a short review

Abstract

Air pollution has caused 40% higher deaths than that of COVID-19, in the past two years; making it a most serious global concern with the exponential increase in health implications and mortality over the last few decades. Air pollution is characterized by fine and ultra-fine particulate matter and gaseous pollutants exhibiting diverse sizes and volatility responsible for various diseases such as respiratory, cardiovascular, hypertension, stroke, and lung cancer. These pollutants are emitted to the atmosphere from numerous anthropogenic sources mainly the combustion of different types of fuels resulting in the exponential enhancement of pollution levels. This manuscript discusses the impact of hazardous pollutants on human health, encompassing different types, levels, sizes, and sources originating from anthropogenic activities. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 72.67% of global deaths are attributed to non-communicable diseases (NCD), predominantly influenced by environmental pollutants. Particulate matter (PM2.5 and below) and other toxic gaseous pollutants are major contributors, responsible for more than 16% of total NCD mortality. Cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and other ailments constitute the majority of these deaths.

Highlights

• Tiny size of particulate matter may accumulate in the lungs and alter cell replication by raising DNA methyltransferase3beta enzymes.

• DNA methylation may activate oncogenes while repressing tumour suppressors, which is the major cause of cancer.

• Indoor pollutant contains more than 900 chemicals, biological, and PM which are two to five times more concentrated than outdoor pollutants.

• Cardiovascular disease attributes to half of the total deaths (around 3.3 million) due to air pollution.

• The mortality rate increases by 0.7% for every 10 g/m³ increase in PM concentration.

KEYWORDS:

• Air pollution
• fine and ultra-fine particulate matter
• health impacts
• and mortality

Acknowledgments

R. Sharma: Literature review, writing, data analysis, and preparing the original draft. O. P. Kurmi: Re-writing, reviewing, editing, and supervision. P. Hariprasad: Re-writing, reviewing, editing, and modifications, and S. K. Tyagi: Conceptualization, writing, reviewing, editing, and thorough supervision.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

One of the authors (R. S.) thankfully acknowledges the financial assistance in the form of a fellowship due to the School of Interdisciplinary Research, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.