The number of people dying from heart disease in Europe has fallen dramatically as countries tackle air pollution.
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| Europe is making a difference by tackling transport pollution, cutting emissions and moving away from fossil fuels. (Source: AFP) |
The World Heart Federation (WHF) report said that between 2010 and 2019, deaths in the region from pollution-related heart disease fell by 19.2% and from stroke by 25.3%. This resulted in 88,880 fewer deaths from heart disease and 34,317 fewer deaths from stroke.
Europe also recorded the largest annual decline in PM2.5 – the air pollutant most closely linked to adverse health effects – of any region in the world between 2010 and 2019.
Norway, Portugal and France have the lowest heart disease death rates when taking into account the age structure of their populations. Mark Miller, an expert at the University of Edinburgh and chair of the WHF’s Air Pollution and Climate Change Expert Group, said the European figures were “reassuring”.
Europe has made a difference by tackling pollution from transport, improving urban design, cutting emissions from industry, and most importantly moving away from fossil fuels, he stressed.
Mr Miller warned that statistics still underestimate the cardiovascular toll of air pollution, and that Europe’s achievements were not being replicated elsewhere in the world.
Researchers found that air pollution, both outdoor and indoor, is contributing to at least 4 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year worldwide, representing what the WHF calls “a staggering challenge to global health.”
The WHF says about 70% of deaths from heart disease are now linked to pollution. When a range of other diseases, such as lung disease and diabetes, are taken into account, nearly 7 million deaths a year are linked to pollution, a figure that the researchers say has remained roughly stable between 2010 and 2019 but is likely an underestimate.
According to WHF, in many areas of Southeast Asia, Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, air pollution is 10 times higher than recommended safe levels.
Originating from transport, industry, agriculture and forest fires, as well as indoor pollution from domestic fuels, the burden is unevenly distributed.
Researchers found that deaths from heart disease due to pollution increased by 27% between 2010 and 2019 in all regions except the Americas and Europe.
Around the world, despite growing awareness that air pollution can harm health, PM2.5 concentrations fell by just 1% between 2010 and 2019. They remain “alarmingly high,” the report said.
The report also said the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that countries should not exceed an air pollution level of 5 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter, but most “exceed that threshold and only 64% have established laws that include outdoor air quality standards.”
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