Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is a 12 week or longer condition during which the sinuses get infected or irritated, become swollen, are severely congested and secrete mucus into the throat. CRS also can cause facial pain, pressure and loss of smell, and in some cases, it may be associated with depression, anxiety, impaired sleep and low quality of life. Although the factors leading to CRS are unknown, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have provided what may be the first evidence that long-term exposure to tiny particulate air pollution is one of them.
A report on the findings was published June 28, 2021, in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
“We assessed patients experiencing chronic rhinosinusitis in areas where exposure to environmental air pollution known as PM2.5 — inhalable, particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size [about 30 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair] —may have been high,” says lead author Murugappan “Murray” Ramanathan, M.D., rhinologist and associate professor of otolaryngology–head and neck surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), PM2.5 (the PM stands for “particulate matter”) is the term for a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. PM2.5 consists of many materials that vary with location, including dust, dirt, soot, smoke, organic compounds and metals. It has been linked to cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, decline in cognitive thinking ability, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma and premature death.
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