Unit III Assessment #2 Systemic Effects - Essay Example

SYSTEMATIC EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION IN URBAN INDIA SUMMARY of Human activities cause global air pollution leading to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in urban India.Cardiovascular changesThe changes experienced in the cardiovascular and air pollution relate intimately. Cardiac inefficiency, myocardial infarction, angina and hypertension are in increase globally due to air pollution. In 1997, pollution-related respiratory diseases caused 8.5% deaths while cardiovascular contributed 39.5% of the total deaths in the United States.

Compared to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular ailments are important causative of death due to exposure to polluted air. In urban India, risks and deaths due to cardiovascular ailments occur at a young age, unlike in Europe and the United States. Hypertension Delhi recorded hypertension in 36.1% lifetime nonsmokers living in the city compared to the 9.5% of rural controls. The dominance of hypertension increased with increase in age. Despite the great prevalence, severity of hypertension was higher in the urban subjects.

There was a record of 15.4% less severe stage 1 hypertension having systolic blood pressure of 140 to 159 mm Hg and more severe stage 2 hypertension in comparison with 6.1% and 0.9% of the rural controls having stage 1 and stage 2 systolic hypertension respectively. Stage 1 and stage 2 90 to 99 and greater than 100 mm Hg hypertension prevailed in 23.4% and 10.0% of Delhi citizens in contrast with 4.4% and 0.8% of control subjects correspondingly. Air pollution and other risk factors of hypertensionAn important and positive association transpired between the PM levels in Delhi’s air, the systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure in Spearman’s correlation experiment.

Particulate air toxins along with lifestyle are great contributors of the prevalence of hypertension in Delhi. The elderly and those with pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at high risks of death due to air pollution.ConclusionSurprisingly, air pollution causes more deaths through cardiovascular diseases compared to the respiratory diseases, which are more associated with pollution of air. Hypertension prevailed in a high percentage among the lifetime nonsmokers, which increased with increase in age.

Those in urban areas had less severe stage 1 hypertension and more severe stage 2 hypertension compared to those in rural stage 1 and stage 2 systolic hypertension (Gurjar, Molina, & Ojha, 2010).ReferenceGurjar, B. R., Molina, L. T., & Ojha, C. P. (2010). Air Pollution: Health and Environmental Impacts. New York: CRC Press.