Pollution linked to pneumonia deaths

A study was published today, directly linking pollution and death from pneumonia.

The report was the result of investigations by Professor George Knox, of the University of Birmingham, looking at atmospheric emissions in England over the period 1996-2004.

The report, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, attributed up to 4000 deaths from pneumonia each year to pollution caused by road transport.

Data was collected from 352 local authority areas in England in order for correlations between death rate and atmospheric pollution levels to be made.

A total 386,374 deaths from pneumonia occurred in England during the eight year period studied.

Professor Knox stated that the highest mortality rates were in the areas with the highest ambivalent levels of pollution.

He identified the greatest sole effect as being the pneumonia death rates.

Knox identified a multitude of diseases that he believed can be linked to combustion emissions.

These included coronary and rheumatic heart diseases, stomach and lung cancers and peptic ulcers.

The professor concluded that many of the deaths were most likely to have been caused by direct chemical injury, with annual losses from pneumonia approaching levels of the 1952 London smog.