In December 2018 a researcher from Germany published his assessment on how air pollution impacts the global burden of diseases, such as tracheal, bronchial and lung cancer, congestive obstructive pulmonary disease, ischaemic heart disease and stroke. Existing data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, based at the University of Washington, was analysed. Results showed that air pollution was one of the major environmental risk factors for the global burden of disease in 1990-2015 which has remained relatively stable for the past 25 years. The largest burden of disease relating to air pollution was seen in the Western Pacific region and South-East Asia which reflected the heavy industry and air pollution hot spots within the developing nations of these regions. An increase in pollution was also seen to increase the disability-adjusted life year, a measure of overall disease burden, expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death, especially in South-East Asia, Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean region where populations are both growing and ageing.
Babatola SS. Global burden of diseases attributable to air pollution. J Public Health Afr. 2018 Dec 21;9(3):813.