According to a World Health Organization report released today, around 1 in 8 of total global deaths - 7 million deaths annually - are as a result of exposure to air pollution.

The new data challenges previous information on air pollution. The figure of 7 million more than doubles the previous estimate of annual air pollution-caused deaths, making air pollution now the world's largest single environmental health risk.

"The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease andstrokes," says Dr. Maria Neira, director of the World Heath Organization's (WHO) Department for Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health.

"Few risks have a greater impact on global health today than air pollution; the evidence signals the need for concerted action to clean up the air we all breathe," she adds.

Air pollution's contribution to the development of respiratory diseases is well known, but WHO's findings also emphasize a more robust connection than has previously been reported between air pollution and cardiovascular disease and cancer.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274510.php