Prolonged air pollution linked to increase of incurable muscle-wasting diseases, study suggests

Prolonged exposure to air pollution has been linked to an increased risk of serious neurodegenerative diseases, a new study has warned.

Swedish scientists found that long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with a 20 to 30 per cent higher risk of developing motor neurone disease (MND) including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) – even in the “relatively low levels” found in Sweden.

MND affects up to 5,000 adults in the UK at any one time, according to the MND association, and is caused by the degradation of nerve cells that leads to muscle weakness and atrophy. ALS is the most common form of the disease.

Researchers said the finding “underlines the importance of improving air quality” and warned those who lived in areas with the highest pollution experienced even more concerning effects, including more rapid deterioration and an elevated risk of death.

“We can see a clear association, despite the fact that levels of air pollution in Sweden are lower than in many other countries,” says Jing Wu, researcher at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet. “This underlines the importance of improving air quality.”

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The team studied 1,463 participants in Sweden with recently diagnosed MND, who were compared with 1,768 siblings and over 7,000 matched controls from the general population. Researchers analysed levels of particles and nitrogen dioxide at their home addresses up to ten years prior to their diagnoses.

In the study published in JAMA Neurology they found those who had been exposed to air pollution for long periods of time had a 20 to 30 per cent greater risk of developing MND.

Strikingly, those who lived in the most polluted areas experienced quicker deterioration. They also had an elevated risk of death and were more likely to need treatment in an invasive ventilator, according to the study.

“Our results suggest that air pollution might not only contribute to the onset of the disease, but also affect how quickly it progresses,” says Caroline Ingre, adjunct professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.

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The team stressed their results cannot show a causal link, but that previous research suggests air pollution can cause inflammation and oxidative stress in the nervous system.

It comes after leading doctors warned air pollution has been linked to around 30,000 deaths last year alone in the UK, with 99 per cent of the population breathing in “toxic air”.

There is “no safe level” of air pollution, which negatively affects nearly every organ in the body, according to the report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).