The dangerous link between air pollution and diabetes

This year, the scientific journal The Lancet Planetary Health alerted the scientific community that the fine particulate material (a mixture of liquid and solid particles, of organic and inorganic substances, which are in suspension in the air) not only associated withrespiratory and cardiac diseases.There is also another dangerous link: the relationship of these contaminants with diabetes.

From data from the US population, global history of diabetes and others from the US Environmental Protection Agency and NASA, the authors of that work managed to establish the association between exposure to air pollutantsand diabetes globally.Their results show estimates that warn that air pollution is responsible for 14% of new cases of diabetes worldwide.

Other factors also influence the risk of the disease, such as genetic history, weight, physical activity and diet level.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 422 million people live today with type 2 diabetes, a figure that in 1980 was 108 million.

Chile is not far behind.Health surveys conducted in the years 2003-2009 and 2016 show that the prevalence of the disease has tripled since 2003, with an increase in all age groups, but especially in adolescents and young adults.

The figures place Chile among the countries with the highest diabetes rates in the world and in the first place in South America, highlights Ximena Fernández, magister in epidemiology of the Catholic University.“It is estimated that diabetes is responsible for 3% of deaths in Chile.Diabetes accompanies the significant increase in overweight and obesity, which today, together reach about 75% of the population, ”he says.

At the same time, the expert Cinthya Leiva, candidate for magister in public health Cedaus, stands out, Chile has the sad record of having high levels of air pollutants in much of the country.“In the northern zone, contamination due to the presence of emissions of mining and thermoelectric central megafuentes stands out.In the downtown area industrial activity, mobile sources, residential emissions and thermoelectric central are the main sources that emit air pollutants.Finally, in the southern zone, another series of industrial activities that contribute to pollution are located, ”he warns.

However, says Leiva, the strong consumption of firewood for home heating is the factor that most contributes to worsen air quality levels in that area of ​​the country."The most contaminated southern cities are Father Las Casas, Osorno, Temuco, Valdivia and Coyhaique, it cataloged the city with the worst air quality of America," he says.

For Sandra Cortés, associate investigator ACCDIS-MAUCO and researcher at CEDUS, so far, it is not known what are the implications of the high levels of air pollutants on the risk of diabetes, “and less the load for diseases such as diseases has been estimatedsuch as diabetes or insulin resistance in children who already show high prevalence of these alterations. ”

However, he states, if air pollution causes diabetes in 3.2 million people every year in the world, it is valid to ask, what can be expected for Chile?

How much do we have to do to reduce these pathologies?The experts agree that it is known that air pollution is a modifiable factor.Several countries have already controlled their levels through successful strategies, says Cortés, including environmental interventions, territorial planning and higher regulatory demands, especially in the improvement and elaboration of more emission standards in relation to megaofuentes.

Contamination control requires measuresby all sectors involved.In this way it is possible to achieve an effective health promotion and prevention of diseases such as diabetes, “especially from an early age, integrating variables that have not been considered within their possible risk factors, such as air pollution, such as air contamination”Says Leiva.

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