Outdoor air pollution can harm kidneys —Study

OUTDOOR air pollution has long been linked to major health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A new study now adds kidney disease to the list, according to researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Veterans Affairs (VA) St. Louis Health Care System, both in the United States.

Pollution may increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and, ultimately, contribute to kidney failure, according to the researchers.

The Washington University team, in collaboration with scientists at the Veterans Affairs’ Clinical Epidemiology Centre, culled national VA databases to evaluate the effects of air pollution and kidney disease on nearly 2.5 million people over a period of 8.5 years, beginning in 2004. The scientists compared VA data on kidney function to air-quality levels collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

The EPA derived its data from land-based air-monitoring stations across the US. The findings suggest that 44,793 new cases of kidney disease and 2,438 new cases of kidney failure may be attributed to levels of air pollution that exceed the EPA’s threshold of 12 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is the highest level of air pollution considered safe for the public, as set by the Clean Air Act of 1990 and updated in 2012.

The study is published in the September 21 edition of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

“Data on the relationship between air pollution and kidney disease in humans has been scarce,” said Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of medicine at Washington University. “However, once we analyzed the data, the link between air pollution and the development of kidney disease was clear.”

Fine particles can damage the kidneys in the same way they damage other organs such as the heart and lungs. Airborne and invisible, microscopic pieces of dust, dirt, smoke, soot and liquid droplets often become destructive when they invade the bloodstream. The kidneys filter the blood, and these harmful particles can disrupt normal kidney function.