WASHINGTON: Using low-cost indoor air
purifiers
may help protect at-risk people from the adverse health effects of air pollution, a study claims.
Microscopic particles floating in the air we breathe come from sources such as
fossil fuel
combustion, fires, cigarettes and vehicles, said researchers from the University of
Michigan
in the US.
Known as fine particulate matter, this form of air pollution increases the risk of cardiovascular and other serious health problems, they said.
The study, published in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’, found three days of using a low-cost
air purifier
at home significantly lowered urban seniors’ fine particulate matter exposure.
It also lowered their
BP
, which is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, researchers said. “The results show a simple practical intervention using indoor air filtration units can help protect at-risk individuals from the adverse health effects of fine particulate matter air pollution,” said Robert Brook. Forty seniors participated in this randomised study— 95% of them nonsmokers.
Each person experienced three different three-day scenarios: a sham air filter (an air filtration system without a filter), a low-efficiency air purifier system and a high-efficiency air purifier system.
Researchers focused on reduced air pollutant exposure and lowered BP over a 3-day period as an indication of the portable air filters’ potential to be cardioprotective. Brook said fine particulate matter exposure was cut by 40%, and systolic BP was reduced by an average of 3.4 millimetres of murcury (mm Hg).
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