The laboured breath

It's just a wheeze, but not a tease and can morph into a life-threatening disease

- Puja Awasthi

Air pollution affects all of India’s 1.4 billion people, according to a World Bank report of 2023. It is not just a silent killer, it also strangulates the economy. In 2019, India lost 3.6 per cent of its GDP to air pollution because workers fell sick, productivity was hampered and greater expenses on health care were incurred.

One recent study by Pristyn Health Care (The Great Indian ENT Survey, 2023) found that three in five residents of Delhi and Mumbai would consider relocating because of poor air quality. The study found that 90 per cent of all respondents had common AQI (Air Quality Index) symptoms such as coughing, breathlessness, wheezing, sore throat and irritated eyes.

The AQI is a yardstick that runs from 0 to 500. At 301, it becomes hazardous.

The five major pollutants are ground-level ozone; particle pollution; carbon monoxide; sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Particulate matter is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot or smoke are large enough to be seen by the naked eye. When the measure of these particulate matters is 2.5 micrometres or less in diameter, they are invisible to the naked eye and can travel deep into the respiratory tract, getting to the lungs and causing short term problems such as coughing, sneezing and a runny nose, while long term health challenges include greater risk for asthma, heart diseases and low-birth weight. Hence the dreaded mentions of PM 2.5.

Dr Randeep Guleria, chairman, Institute of Internal Medicine, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, and Director, Medical Education, Medanta, Gurugram, takes us through the issue. He says that in the west, it is held that chronic exposure to high levels of air pollution poses as significant a risk for heart disease as smoking or high cholesterol.