How Does Air Quality Affect Allergies?

Polluted air is bad for our health and our environment. That is why monitoring the quality of the air is important. Two gases that are essential for life on Earth: nitrogen and oxygen, make up the air in our atmosphere. However, the air also contains smaller amounts of many other gases and particles.

Air pollution has been on the rise because of the increase in urbanization and industrialization. It is one of the major factors associated with the development of chronic allergic respiratory diseases in people. This alone causes allergic rhinitis in 40 percent of the world’s population.

How Does Air Quality Affect Allergies?

Common pollutants that affect allergies and can irritate lung function and affect the quality of life are as follows:

Ground-level ozone

This pollutant is one of the biggest contributors to smog. Ozone is produced when sunlight reacts with the chemical fumes that cars and industrial plants cough out. While it does help us protect from UV rays, ozone should not be present at high amounts on ground level. It irritates the lungs, aggravates asthma, and makes it difficult to breathe. In fact, long-term inflammation from breathing in too much ground-level ozone can permanently scar lung tissue.

Particulate Matter

Mechanical processes such as mining and construction create particulate matter. Chemical processes like burning fossil fuels also create pollutants. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel are common types of fossil fuels.

We often think that the only major source of smog is fumes from cars with combustion engines. However, particulates from diesel engines that power trains, large trucks, and some buses also contribute to air quality problems.

Aside from engine emissions, particle pollution can come from other sources. In case you live near a coal-fired power plant, the smog in your area may include sulfur particles generated by the plant. More importantly, particles are more harmful the smaller they are. Particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter, about one quarter the diameter of a human hair, can be inhaled into the lungs and get into the bloodstream. As a result, this can affect your breathing, and in some cases, your heart function. Studies have also shown that an increase of particulate matter in the air leads to more hospitalizations for children who have asthma. Particle pollution has many serious negative health effects, but it’s especially bad for children with asthma.

Carbon Monoxide

It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas produced by burning gasoline, wood, propane, charcoal, or other carbon-based fuel. Improperly ventilated appliances and engines, particularly in a tightly sealed or enclosed space, may allow carbon monoxide to accumulate to dangerous levels.

Too much of this in the air could replace the oxygen in your bloodstream which could lead to serious tissue damage or even death. According to a study, higher exposure to carbon monoxide during infancy increased the risk of developing allergic rhinitis.

Sulfur Dioxide

It is a water-soluble gas commonly emitted into ambient air by coal-fired power plants, refineries, smelters, paper and pulp mills, and food processing plants. In fact, volcanic eruptions can even release sulfur dioxide into the air. Sulfur dioxide is a colorless gas with a pungent odor.

This is a great contributor to sulfurous air pollution that has plagued human populations for centuries. Sulfur dioxide is a precursor for sulfuric acid, an air pollutant that plays a major role in the adverse respiratory effects of air pollution.

Nitrogen Dioxide

Combustion processes produce this group of air pollutants. In urban areas, its presence is mainly due to traffic. However, indoors, it is unvented heaters and gas stoves that produce nitrogen dioxide. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide can affect health independent of any effects of other pollutants.

A mixture of the air pollutants above is called smog and is a type of air pollution. Pollutants do not just affect outdoor air quality. In fact, there are many things that can affect indoor air quality like indoor use of pesticides or toxic cleaners, increased dust mite exposure. Lastly, keeping many house plants can also contribute to dust and mold which can cause adverse particulate pollution.

Additional Source: Air Quality Index Statement

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