Why Earth Day Matters to People with Asthma

Each year on April 22, Earth Day acts as an invitation to reconnect with nature. Many people choose to spend the day exploring the great outdoors, planting a tree, or organizing a trash pickup to help take care of their community.

The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970 to raise awareness about the ways that fossil fuels were polluting our air and water. Led by two senators, Americans gathered to protest the impacts of oil spills, industrial waste, and traffic pollution on the environment — and, in turn, their own health.

The attention the first Earth Day brought to these issues resulted in the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and spurred legislation that still protects communities today.

Poor air quality can have dire consequences for people with asthma. Research from 2020 suggests that air pollution can affect lung development in young children and contributes to inflammation associated with asthma.

Understanding how environmental factors — including pollution and climate change — affect health, especially for people with asthma, is the first step to regaining control of the air we breathe.

Why air quality matters
Each year the American Lung Association analyzes official air quality data to generate a State of the Air report. The State of the Air report for 2020 suggests that 50 years after the passing of the Clean Air Act, poor air quality remains a problem for many people across the United States.

Between 2016 and 2018, according to the 2020 report, almost half of Americans lived in areas with unhealthy levels of pollution and ozone or particle pollution.

Ozone is a reactive form of oxygen that can damage your lungs and airway when inhaled. Smog is composed mostly of ozone and particulate matter — tiny particles that can penetrate deep in the lungs and even enter the bloodstream — along with other chemicals.
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People with asthma are especially at risk of being exposed to air pollution. Of the nearly 25 millionTrusted Source Americans with asthma, more than 13 million — including 2.5 million children — live in areas that had exceedingly high levels of at least one kind of pollutant, according to the 2020 report.

For people with asthma, air pollution can make asthma symptoms worse or trigger asthma attacks.

One 2021 study suggested that exposure to higher rates of air pollution was associated with an increased likelihood of needing medical attention in kids with asthma.

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