Pollution:in Europe 253 thousand deaths per year, almost one in five in Italy

Failure to comply with the recommended limits in the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) in the air has caused 253 thousand deaths in Europe in one year alone, this is admitted by thelatest health assessment presented by the European Environment Agency (EEA).The report explains that, although over the last 18 years the number of deaths attributable to fine particulate matter has decreased by 41%, the concentration of smog in the air is still the main environmental health risk for all those European citizens living in urban areas .Seen from Italy, the news sounds even more alarming, if possible, almost one death from PM 2.5 in five occurs in our country:according to estimates, exposure to fine particulate matter would have killed almost 47 thousand Italians.According to the EEA report, Italy is in second to last place for deaths caused by smog, preceded only by Poland.

Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) refers to solid and liquid polluting particles suspended in the air with a diameter between 0.1 and 100 micrometers (one micrometer is equivalent to one millionth of a meter).They are the smaller ones caused by combustion, i.e. in particular by fossil fuel car traffic, by heating (particularly wood-fired), by energy production plants and by many other industrial processes.

Specifically in 2021 among the twenty-seven countries belonging to the Union, in addition to the 253 thousand deaths attributable to exposure to PM 2.5 concentrations higher than the WHO guide level of 5 µg/m 3 (micrograms per cubic meter of air) , 52 thousand deaths were caused by the high quantity of nitrogen dioxide, above the WHO guideline level of 10 µg/m 3 and 22 thousand due to ozone accumulation above 70 µg/m 3.

Polluting substances which, therefore, cause obvious health problems - as well as entailing significant costs for healthcare systems.In fact, for the first time the European Environment Agency has included in its latest assessment the quantification of the disease burden associated with specific pathologies related to air pollution.This depends not only on deaths attributable to the disease, but also from daily coexistence with it.

In fact, if for some pathologies such as ischemic heart disease and cancer the majority of the disease burden is linked to the deaths caused by the disease, for others, such as diabetes and asthma, the disease burden is mainly associated with cohabitation for years or decades with their debilitating effects.Therefore, when we consider the health effects of air pollution, it is important not only to focus on deaths attributable to pollutants, but also on possible long-term consequences that these pathologies have on the quality of daily life of European citizens, who find themselves facing certain chronic effects.

Among air pollution-related diseases, the "disease burden" related to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is caused by ischemic heart disease, followed by stroke, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and asthma.In the case of nitrogen dioxide, the highest burden is due to diabetes mellitus, followed by stroke and asthma.

Even in Italy, due to exposure to excessive levels of PM2.5 fine particles, Almost 47 thousand people died, equal to more than 415,000 years of life lost, without counting at least another 16 thousand between nitrogen dioxide and ozone.

On the other hand, Copernicus atmospheric monitoring was already carried out last October they detected that 73% of those who live in our country live in the 58 cities where from the beginning of 2023 - from January to August - the concentration of fine particles has exceeded the limits suggested by the WHO of five micrograms per cubic meter of air - while the new European standards on air quality would allow an average annual concentration of 10 micrograms starting from 2035.Instead the epidemiological surveillance project 'Sentieri', which released its sixth report on the state of public health in the most polluted sites in Italy, by analyzing 46 environmental emergency sites recognized by the government, it realized that living within the confines of these particularly polluted areas means have a 2% greater risk of dying from the disease, mostly malignant tumors, and a 3% higher risk of hospitalization.

Considering that these sites are overall inhabited by over 6.2 million people, that is, approximately 10% of the Italian population, the situation appears to be decidedly worrying.Right in our house.

[by Gloria Ferrari]