暴露在受污染的空氣中就像每天吸一包煙

暴露在受污染的空氣中就像每天吸一包煙

Long-term exposure to air pollution, especially ground-level ozone, is like smoking about a pack of cigarettes a day for many years, a new study says, and like smoking, it can can lead to emphysema.

一項新的研究表明，長期暴露在空氣污染中，尤其是地面臭氧，就像多年來每天吸一包煙一樣，會導致肺氣腫。

The study, published Tuesday in the medical journal JAMA, is the largest of its kind. It looked at exposure to air pollution -- specifically to ground-level ozone, fine particulate matter, nitrogen oxide and black carbon. The study looked at more than 7,000 adults ages 45 to 84 for over a decade in six US metropolitan areas -- Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles,? New York City, St. Paul, Minnesota, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

這項研究周二發(fā)表在醫(yī)學雜志《美國醫(yī)學會雜志》(JAMA)上，是同類研究中規(guī)模最大的。該研究著眼于暴露于空氣污染中——特別是暴露于地面臭氧、細顆粒物、氮氧化物和黑碳中。這項研究對美國六個大都市-巴爾的摩、芝加哥、洛杉磯、?紐約市、明尼蘇達州圣保羅和北卡羅來納州溫斯頓-塞勒姆的7，000多名年齡從45歲到84歲的成年人進行了長達十年的調查。

Using a CT scan, researchers were able to see that that exposure to each of the pollutants was associated with the development of emphysema, a lung condition that causes shortness of breath, and is usually associated with cigarette smoking. It's a debilitating chronic disease that shrinks the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream.

通過CT掃描，研究人員能夠發(fā)現(xiàn)，接觸這些污染物都與肺氣腫的發(fā)生有關。肺氣腫是一種導致呼吸急促的肺部疾病，通常與吸煙有關。這是一種使人衰弱的慢性疾病，會減少進入血液的氧氣量。

Scientists were able to show a decline in lung function with a spirometry, a simple test that measures how much air you can breathe out in one forced breath.

科學家們可以通過肺活量測定法來顯示肺功能的下降。肺活量測定法是一種簡單的測試，可以測量你在一次強制呼吸中可以呼出多少空氣。

The patients were all healthy when they started the study, and researchers controlled for factors that could compromise lung health, including age and whether the person was a smoker or was regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.

這些患者在開始研究時都是健康的，研究人員控制了可能損害肺部健康的因素，包括年齡以及患者是吸煙者還是經常暴露在二手煙中。

The strongest association between a pollutant and emphysema was seen with exposure to ozone, which was the only pollutant associated with an additional decline in lung function.

污染物和肺氣腫之間最明顯的聯(lián)系是暴露在臭氧中，臭氧是唯一與肺功能進一步下降相關的污染物。

Exposure to ozone irritates the lining of our lungs when we breathe it in. It can leave us winded, cause asthma attacks, make us more susceptible to infection.

當我們吸入臭氧時，它會刺激我們的肺內壁。它會讓我們喘不過氣來，引起哮喘發(fā)作，使我們更容易受到感染。

Ground-level ozone is the part of smog that you can't see. It's colorless and it comes from the photochemical transformation that occurs when pollutants interact with sunlight.

地面臭氧是你看不見的煙霧的一部分。它是無色的，它來自于污染物與陽光相互作用時發(fā)生的光化學轉化。

With the climate crisis, there could be much higher levels of ground-level ozone in the future.

隨著氣候危機，未來可能會有更高水平的地面臭氧。

"Ground-level ozone is produced when UV light reacts with pollutants from fossil fuels," added Barr. "This process is accelerated by heatwaves, so?ground-level ozone will likely continue to increase?unless additional steps are taken to reduce fossil fuel emissions and curb climate change.?But it's not clear what level of ozone is safe for human health."

“當紫外線與化石燃料中的污染物發(fā)生反應時，地面臭氧就會產生，”巴爾補充說。“熱浪加速了這一過程，所以?地面臭氧可能會繼續(xù)增加?除非采取額外的措施來減少化石燃料的排放,遏制氣候變化。?但不清楚何種水平的臭氧對人類健康安全的。”

Earlier studies predicted exposure to ground-level ozone could lead to millions more acute respiratory problems and would cost the United States billions of dollars. Exposure to air pollution caused more than 107,000 premature deaths in the United States in 2011 alone, research has found.

早些時候，世界衛(wèi)生組織( Study )預測，暴露在地面臭氧下可能會導致數(shù)以百萬計的急性呼吸道問題，并會給美國帶來數(shù)十億美元的損失。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，僅2011年，美國就有超過10.7萬人因暴露于空氣污染而過早死亡。

"The big surprise was the magnitude of this, putting pollution in the same league as cigarette smoking," said Kaufman. "Cigarette smoking is by far the best known cause of emphysema. The fact that ozone is in the same league was definitely a surprise."

考夫曼說:“最令人驚訝的是污染的嚴重程度，污染程度與吸煙不相上下。”到目前為止，吸煙是引起肺氣腫的最著名的原因。臭氧與之同屬一類，這一事實無疑令人驚訝。”