Scientists revealed that nitrogen oxides, in particular, are major contributors to bone damage with the lumbar spine being affected the most.
By Daphne Clarance: Scientists have revealed that elevated levels of air pollution are associated with bone damage. New research led by a team at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health studied the effects of air pollution and bone mineral density, specifically in postmenopausal women.
Although there have been studies that link air pollution with bone mineral density, osteoporosis risk and fractures in older individuals, this is the first paper to explore air quality and bone mineral density in postmenopausal women.
The study has been published in the peer-reviewed journal eClinical Medicine, which is a part of The Lancet Discovery Science suite of open-access journals. The team of scientists analysed data collected through the Women's Health Initiative study of 1,61,808 postmenopausal women where the effects were most evident on the lumbar spine, with nitrous oxides twice as damaging to the area than seen with normal ageing.
Exposure of the participants to estimated air pollution (PM 10, NO, NO2 and SO2) at their home addresses was studied. The scientists measured the bone mineral density (BMD; whole body, total hip, femoral neck and lumbar spine) at the start of the experiment and then a follow-up measurement after one year, three years and six years using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry.
According to author Diddier Prada, associate research scientist in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, the findings confirm that poor air quality may be a risk factor for bone loss, independent of socioeconomic or demographic factors.
"For the first time, we have evidence that nitrogen oxides, in particular, are a major contributor to bone damage and that the lumbar spine is one of the most susceptible sites of this damage," said Diddier Prada.
Lead author Andrea Baccarelli said that further efforts should focus on detecting those at higher risk of air pollution-related bone damage. Major sources of nitrous oxides are car and truck exhaust, as are the emissions from electrical power generation plants, the team said.
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