Smog may impair your sense of smell-consumer health news

Tuesday, June 1, 2021 (HealthDay News)-New research suggests that long-term inhalation of small particles of air pollution can endanger the sense of smell.

Researchers have found that the risk of loss of odor, a condition called anosmia, has almost doubled among people who have been exposed to this type of air pollution, known as particulate matter, for extended periods of time. discovered.

“It’s strange that the entire group that lost their sense of smell had significantly higher exposure to’particles’ than the group that did not develop the disease,” said Dr. Murgapan Ramanasan, a senior researcher. He is an associate professor of otolaryngology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

These small particles are less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about one-thirtieth the diameter of human hair. Known as PM2.5, it is associated with a variety of health problems such as heart disease, lung cancer and asthma.

PM2.5 is manufactured in diesel vehicles and trucks. It is composed of various materials such as dust, dirt, soot, smoke, organic compounds and metals.

However, Ramanasan could not prove that exposure to PM2.5 causes anosmia in this study, only warning that it appears to be relevant.

In this study, it is unclear whether the loss of odor was caused by air pollution that damages the nerves that control the sensation of odor, or by inflammation of the nasal membrane. It is also unclear whether the loss of odor is permanent.

“Usually when the sense of smell returns, it is usually after a viral infection or when the inflammation disappears,” Ramanasan said.

For COVID-19, the common symptom is anosmia. Some infected people lose their sense of smell and recover, but others do not recover after a year.

All patients with anosmia in this new study had that condition for a long time, the study’s authors said.

In this treatise, Ramanasan’s team examined nearly 2,700 adults, including more than 500 anosmia. Researchers have created a model that estimates PM2.5 contamination of participants’ zip codes using the US Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality system.

Researchers have found that long-term aerial exposure to PM2.5 increases the risk of losing the sense of smell by about 1.7-fold.

Anosmia affects quality of life and can make it difficult to detect the taste and odor of food. Researchers say in background notes that people in this condition are at risk of weight loss, depression and anxiety.

Ramanasan said there is not much that can be done alone to reduce exposure to air pollution.

“We need better regulation of air quality,” he said.

Kara Hoover, an associate professor of bioanthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, specializes in the sense of smell. Like many other health problems, she said odor loss was worse among poor and minority people who tended to live in areas with high levels of air pollution.

She added that few people can do it to reduce their risk in such situations.

“The higher the socio-economic status, the more pollution-affecting buffers, such as riding an air-conditioned car, rather than using public transport or living outside the city or in parks or green areas. Will increase access to help remove some of the pollution. “

Hoover and Ramanasan agreed that air pollution reductions can only be achieved by society as a whole.

“I don’t think it depends on the individual,” Hoover said. “I think it needs to be a top-down change.”

The report was published online on May 27th JAMA network open..

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For more information on the loss of smell Yale University School of Medicine..

Source: Murugappan Ramanathan, MD, Associate Professor, Otorhinolaryngology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore. Kara Hoover, PhD, Associate Professor, Biological Anthropologist, University of Alaska Fairbanks. JAMA network open, May 27, 2021, online