more on study on clean air

[Guest guest]

http://health./news/145496 WEDNESDAY, March 15 (HealthDay

News) -- Cutting down on fine particulate matter in city air can be a

real lifesaver, a new study finds. This reduction was observed

specifically for deaths due to cardiovascular and respiratory disease

and not from lung cancer, researcher Francine Laden, of Channing

Laboratory in Boston, said in a prepared statement.The original

study -- called the Harvard Six Cities study -- was conducted from

1979 to 1990. It identified an association between fine particulate

air pollution and death risk. This new study extended that work to

the years 1990 to 1998.The study participants included nearly 8,100

residents of a number of American towns, including Watertown, Mass.;

Kingston and Harriman, Tenn.; St. Louis, Mo.; Steubenville, Ohio;

Portage, Wyocena and Pardeeville, Wisc.; and Topeka, Kan. The

participants averaged 50 years of age at the start of the original

study.The new study found that the largest drops in adjusted death

rates were in cities with the greatest reductions in fine particulate

matter air pollution.While deaths linked to heart disease and

respiratory illness dropped along with pollutant levels, lung cancer

deaths did not, probably because lung cancer is a disease with a

longer latency period and less reversibility, according to Laden.

During the eight-year study period, the annual mean concentration of

fine particulates declined by 7 micrograms per cubic meter of air per

decade in Steubenville; by 5 micrograms in St. Louis; by 3 micrograms

in Watertown; by 2 micrograms in Harriman; by 1 milligram in Portage;

and by less than a microgram in Topeka. The findings appear in the

March issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care

Medicine.More information The American Academy of Family Physicians

has more about http://familydoctor.org/085.xml " target= " _new " >air

pollution and

health.