Long-Term Exposure to Air Pollution Can Double Glaucoma Risk
METHODOLOGY:
Researchers analyzed the records of 590,338 individuals aged 20 years or older from a nationwide cohort in Taiwan who had never been diagnosed with glaucoma and had at least 10 years of data regarding their exposure to air pollution.
The levels of seven air pollutants — including sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter < 10 µm in diameter (PM10), PM2.5, nitrogen oxides (NOX) — nitrogen monoxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — were monitored, with the exposure data linked to the residential postal codes of the participants.
The primary outcome was the incidence of POAG during the follow-up period from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2013.
TAKEAWAY:
During the follow-up period, 3158 participants (mean age, 42.7 years; 50.1% men) were diagnosed with POAG.
An increase of 1 SD in the 10-year average levels of SO2, CO, NOX, NO, and NO2 was associated with a 40%, 108%, 84%, 63%, and 84% increased risk for POAG, respectively ( P < .001 for all).
< .001 for all). Increased long-term exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 increased the risk of developing POAG by 56% and 94%, respectively ( P < .001 for both).
IN PRACTICE:
'Our analysis showed that mean concentrations of PM10 (54.63 μg/m3), PM2.5 (32.72 μg/m3), and NO2 (18.14 ppb) exceeded the WHO's recommended limits of 15 μg/m3 (annual average limit), 5 μg/m3 (annual average limit), and 13.30 ppb, respectively. This highlights that the individuals in our study were exposed to pollutant levels surpassing international safety standards, which may have contributed to the increased risk of POAG,' the researchers wrote.
'Our findings suggest that air pollution is a significant environmental risk factor for POAG and that different pollutants potentially contribute to systemic inflammation,' they added.
SOURCE:
This study was led by Shu-Han Chuang of Changhua Christian Hospital in Changhua and Chien-Liang Wu of Taipei Medical University in Taipei, both in Taiwan. It was published online on May 31, 2025, in the American Journal of Ophthalmology .
LIMITATIONS:
This study did not measure the quality of air breathed by people inside their homes or at their workplaces. The database lacked any information on smoking, even though smoking influences both air pollution levels and risk for glaucoma. It also limited the inclusion of factors such as genetic predisposition, severity of disease, clinical symptoms, laboratory data, and lifestyle.
DISCLOSURES:
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
9 hours ago
- Washington Post
Gazans are dying of hunger. Here's what happens to a starving human body.
Warning: This graphic requires JavaScript. for the best experience. Under near-total Israeli siege, the more than 2 million people in Gaza — including some 1 million children — face desperate and worsening hunger. Nearly 1 in 3 people are going multiple days without eating, according to the United Nations, and Gaza's few remaining hospitals are reporting rising deaths from malnutrition and starvation. Photos and videos from the territory show emaciated children with skin stretched tightly over bones and distended bellies. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement For months, aid groups had warned of the impending risk of famine as Israel heavily restricted the flow of U.N. supplies into Gaza. More than 100 humanitarian organizations issued a statement Wednesday describing 'mass starvation' in the territory. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, more than 100 people have died of starvation since the beginning of the war. New fatalities are tallied each day. 'I don't know what you would call it other than mass starvation, and it's man-made, and that's very clear,' World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Wednesday. Yazan, a malnourished 2-year-old Palestinian boy, at his family's damaged home in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza on Wednesday. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images) Some 6,000 trucks carrying food, water and supplies from the U.N. sit outside Gaza. According to the U.N., Israel has barred the convoy from entering the enclave. In a briefing with reporters Wednesday, an Israeli military official said there was a 'lack of food security inside Gaza,' but said the U.N. was failing to deliver aid. 'There is no limit. The crossings are open — just bring the trucks and take the aid,' the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, in line with the rules of the briefing. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement 'The Israeli authorities are the sole decision-makers on who, how and how much aid enters the Gaza Strip, and the type of supplies that are allowed in,' U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a briefing Wednesday, adding that drivers need multiple access approvals from Israeli forces and must wait for a pause in the bombing. As hunger sets in, the toll on the human body is evident. The younger the person, the greater the impact. 1 Energy Brain Glucose Food Liver Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver 2 Energy Brain Glucose Food Liver Fat Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver Fat Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver Fat Brain Energy Glucose Food Liver Fat People get energy primarily by turning carbohydrates into glucose, which is processed in the liver and distributed throughout the body, especially to the brain. After exhausting its glucose reservoir, the body starts getting energy from fat. But if the body is not getting sufficient sustenance, it then burns protein from muscles to get energy, eventually becoming unable to deliver essential nutrients to vital organs and tissues. For children, this happens more quickly because they have fewer reserves and need more energy to grow. As a consequence, muscles start shrinking and organs stop functioning properly; the body can't regulate temperature; skin goes pale and gums may start bleeding. The immune system loses its ability to repair wounds and fight infections such as those causing diarrhea, which can create a vicious cycle that further deprives the body of nutrients. The digestive system is one of the first to shut down, resulting in decreased production of stomach acid, chronic inflammation, shrinking of the stomach and a loss of appetite. If food becomes available again, it will need to be introduced slowly, ideally in a hospital setting. The heart shrinks, which decreases blood flow, slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Eventually, the heart can fail. Breathing slows and lung capacity wanes. Eventually, respiratory function can fail. As the brain is deprived of energy and essential nutrients, apathy, exhaustion and irritability ensue. Children need more energy than adults to develop their brains, making them more vulnerable to a lack of nutrients, which can hamper their ability to learn later in life. Although Gazans have struggled with hunger throughout much of the war, conditions have been particularly dire since March, when Israel ended a six-week ceasefire, during which more aid was allowed into the territory, and reimposed a blockade. Beginning in late May, U.N. humanitarian efforts were replaced by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an Israeli- and U.S.-backed aid distribution system. Critics have warned that the foundation — which is registered as a nonprofit but is backed by entities hoping to profit from the relief effort — transports inadequate aid to Palestinians under a flawed setup that forces them to risk their lives for provisions. In the military zones where the GHF operates, stampedes regularly break out among Palestinians scrambling for aid, and Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire near GHF distribution warehouses. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israeli troops have killed more than 1,000 people scrambling for aid from the GHF. The GHF has also been plagued by financial difficulties, limiting the number of supplies it has brought into the enclave. An average of 28 aid trucks enter Gaza each day, according to Amnesty International, down from 500 to 600 before the war. Around 80 percent of those who have died of starvation since the beginning of the war were children, according to UNICEF. Five thousand children were treated for malnutrition during a two-week period in July, UNICEF official Edouard Beigbeder said in a statement Thursday. By mid-August, Gaza could run out of the specialized medicine used to treat severely malnourished children, Reuters reported. Hidaya cradles her sick 18-month-old son Mohammed inside their tent in the Shati refugee camp. (Omar Al-Qattaa/AFP/Getty Images) Naima Abu Ful with her son Yazan. (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Samah Matar and her son Youssef. (Mahmoud Issa/Reuters) Doctors and nutrition experts say the children who survive the lack of nourishment — and the ongoing bombing, infectious diseases and psychological trauma — are often condemned to face a lifetime of health woes. Malnutrition can rob them of the ability to fully develop their brains and bodies. Many will be shorter and physically weaker as a result. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement 'At the simplest level, if you have impaired nutrition and growth, your brain stops growing,' said Zulfiqar Bhutta, a physician and chair of global child health at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The babies who survive face severe risks tied to malnutrition. baby1 Eyesight Eyesight Eyesight baby2 Micronutrients are fundamental for development. For instance, without enough vitamin A — found in eggs, fish and vegetables — children in Gaza risk developing poor eyesight. A lack of zinc makes it hard for children to put on weight. Insufficient iron, most easily absorbed from meat, saps energy and affects the ability to concentrate. Children who don't consume micronutrients will develop weaker immune systems, leaving them more susceptible to infections that could cause diarrhea, pneumonia and fevers. Malnourishment can also stunt physical growth in the long term. Israel indicated Friday that it would allow foreign nations to airdrop supplies into Gaza, according to Israel army radio. Airdrops, however, are far from sufficient for Gaza's population: Each plane carries less than what a single truck can bring into Gaza by land, and the drops pose dangers to those on the ground. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement As starvation grows, the horrors of social decay — as parents make choices about whom to feed or what to sell to survive — will not soon abate, even if the war were to end, said Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University and author of 'Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine.' 'Unlike shooting or bombing, if killing stops, the dying won't stop. It'll still continue for some time,' de Waal said. 'Starvation in war like this is a massacre in slow motion.'
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
'We have forgotten how serious measles can be'
Health officials are urging parents in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to check their children are fully vaccinated against measles. NHS figures reveal uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab has fallen across the two regions. Grimsby GP Dr Nathalie Dukes said: "The evidence is clear that the increase in the number of people who are getting infected is coinciding with the rates of vaccination dropping." Dr Dukes said she believed one of the reasons behind the fall in vaccination numbers is that people have "forgotten how serious conditions like measles can be". She said: "We have come to the luxurious position where up until recently these conditions were not really around anymore. "We didn't see many cases so it was out of our remit of relevance to a degree. "Information overload is another factor. I think people have got a bit vaccine fatigue since Covid in terms of being told what to do and in terms of concerns, so people have maybe taken that to childhood vaccinations as well." Measles is a highly contagious disease spread when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes and it can lead to serious and potentially life-threatening complications in some people, including infections of the lungs and brain. The target set by the World Health Organisation to prevent the spread of measles through herd immunity is a 95% overall vaccination rate. Latest NHS figures show 83% of children received their second dose of the MMR vaccine by the age of five in North Lincolnshire and Hull in 2023/24 - down from 91% in 2013/14. Uptake is also 83% in Lincolnshire - 4% lower than 10 years ago, while rates have also dropped by 4% to 91% in North East Lincolnshire. In 2024, there were more than 2,900 confirmed measles cases in England - the highest number of cases recorded annually since 2012. Since the beginning of this year, there have been 529 confirmed cases reported in England, according to figures by the UK Health Security Agency. In July, a child died at Liverpool's Alder Hey Children's Hospital after contracting the disease. Birmingham experienced an outbreak, with government figures showing 26 confirmed cases between January and June, while Bristol had recorded the most cases to date outside London with 11% of the national total. Speaking at a children's play centre in Hull, mum-of-two Lily Kemp said it was important to make sure children were fully vaccinated against infections, such as measles. She said: "I think social media doesn't help because people share their experiences and some might comment on the short-term effects rather than the long-term benefits of what they're protecting against if they get vaccinated." A joint statement from the NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board and Hull City Council said: "While the majority of children are protected, there remain pockets of low uptake that increase the risk of measles outbreaks. "Vaccination remains the best protection against measles, mumps and rubella. "We urge all parents and carers to check their child's Red Book or contact their GP if they are unsure whether their child is up to date." Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices Related internet stories Measles holiday warning as cases rise in Europe Child dies at Alder Hey after contracting measles Why are measles cases rising in the UK? Related internet links NHS Humber and North Yorkshire ICB Hull City Council
Associated Press
20 hours ago
- Associated Press
Photos of Gaza's worsening food crisis
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Experts warn that Gaza is nearing famine, citing Israel's blockade and military offensive following Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The World Health Organization reports a sharp rise in malnutrition and disease, with a large portion of Gaza's 2 million residents now starving. ___ This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
