January 8 | 2018

Respiratory and cardiovascular responses to walking down a traffic-polluted road compared with walking in a traffic-free area in participants aged 60 years and older with chronic lung or heart disease and age-matched healthy controls: a randomised, crossover study

Rudy Sinharay, MBBS^†, Jicheng Gong, PhD^†, Benjamin Barratt, PhD, Pamela Ohman-Strickland, PhD, Sabine Ernst, MD, Prof Frank Kelly, PhD, Prof Junfeng (Jim) Zhang, PhD, Prof Peter Collins, MD, Prof Paul Cullinan, MD, Prof Kian Fan Chung, DSc

^†Co-first authors contributed equally

The Lancet.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32643-0 Published: 05 December 2017

Summary

Long-term exposure to pollution can lead to an increase in the rate of decline of lung function, especially in older individuals and in those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), whereas shorter-term exposure at higher pollution levels has been implicated in causing excess deaths from ischaemic heart disease and exacerbations of COPD. We aimed to assess the effects on respiratory and cardiovascular responses of walking down a busy street with high levels of pollution compared with walking in a traffic-free area with lower pollution levels in older adults.