Long-term air pollution exposure linked to lower respiratory infections
An appraisal of existing reviews found more consistent long-term associations, while short-term reviews failed methodological checks and some pollutants lacked convincing high-quality evidence.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Long-term air pollution exposure was associated with new acute lower respiratory infections and deaths from these infections. The clearest patterns involved nitrogen dioxide and particulate pollution. The evidence was less secure for short-term exposure and other pollutants. These are associations, and the abstract does not establish that pollution caused any individual infection or death.
This abstract-based summary cannot give a usable numerical risk estimate because exposure increments and comparison levels are missing. The short-term evidence also failed the review’s methodological standards.
What researchers found
Acute lower respiratory infection incidence and mortality
Nitrogen dioxide exposure; incidence in children and mortality in adults. Exposure comparator and exact timeframes: Not reported in the abstract.
Short-term findings need caution
The authors also describe an association between short-term pollution exposure and pneumonia incidence. However, the short-term reviews did not meet their methodological standards, so that conclusion rests on less secure evidence than the long-term findings.
Pollutants and outcomes differed
Long-term reviews linked nitrogen dioxide to infection incidence in children and infection deaths in adults. Evidence for ozone and sulfur dioxide was not conclusive at a high methodological standard.
The original publication
Short-term and long-term effects of air pollution on acute lower respiratory infections incidence and mortality: an overview and critical appraisal of systematic reviews.
Murtas R, Schiattarella P, Smimmo A et al.
Eur Respir Rev · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41297962
- Record checked
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