In recent years, environmental pollution issues have received widespread attention, especially PM2.5 pollution, which has become a hot topic. In the northern region, air pollution is particularly serious, which is directly related to people's respiratory health and life safety.

Northern China has been suffering from relatively serious air pollution due to various factors.

Some cities are highly dependent on energy, such as some major industrial cities in Shanxi, where there are many factories and huge coal usage.

The combustion of fossil fuels such as coal results in the emission of a variety of pollutants, which keeps the concentration of PM2.5 at a high level.

In winter, due to heating needs, many areas begin to use loose coal burning, which leads to an increase in air pollution.

This phenomenon has been going on for many years, has a wide impact, and involves a large number of people.

The government continues to strengthen air pollution control efforts, such as the regional joint prevention and control air pollution control strategy implemented in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the gradual popularization of clean energy, with the aim of reducing PM2.5 content.

Against this background, the School of Public Health of Tianjin Medical University and many other institutions jointly conducted this research work.

The research locations were determined in typical areas in northern China. The research lasted for 22 years, and many experts and scholars from different cooperative units participated in the research.

PM2.5 is particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less.

It's quite harmful.

In big cities such as Beijing, numerous vehicles emit exhaust gas every day, and harmful components such as PM2.5 contained in these exhaust gases are blown away by the wind.

PM2.5 particles are tiny and can penetrate deep into the lungs. If exposed to such an environment for a long time, the cells in the lungs will be damaged.

Moreover, once it contains harmful inorganic chemicals, its impact on the cardiopulmonary system will be more serious.

These chemicals may disrupt the normal beating rhythm of the heart and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. They also make the lungs less efficient at breathing, increasing the risk of lung disease and death from heart and lung problems.

This 22-year study was no easy task.

Location-wise, the area covered is wide.

Monitoring points have been set up in various typical polluted areas in northern China.

In terms of staffing, it involves many people from different universities and research institutions, and coordination and collaboration between them has become particularly cumbersome. The integration of personnel resources has therefore become extremely complex.

It is not easy to accurately measure the concentration changes of inorganic chemical components in PM2.5 over this long period and its connection with deaths from cardiopulmonary diseases.

The data collection needs to ensure consistency across regions, and at the same time, the data in different environments must be standardized, so that its actual effect on people's health can be accurately judged.

After many years of long-term research, very valuable results have been achieved.

Studies have shown that long-term exposure to the inorganic chemical components of PM2.5 is related to mortality from cardiopulmonary diseases.

This result provides important data support for environmental pollution control and public health protection.

In Shandong, this research can help optimize local environmental protection measures, strengthen pollution control in a targeted manner, and reduce the risk of death from cardiopulmonary diseases. This has a positive effect on forming an air management plan that fits the actual situation of the region.

In fact, in addition to PM2.5, there are other substances, such as triclosan, which may also affect human health.

Studies in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and zebrafish models have shown that triclosan can cause endocrine disruption.

This chemical is found in many daily products, such as toothpaste, hand sanitizer, etc.

Survey results show that in supermarkets in some cities in China, more than 60% of toothpaste products contain triclosan.

Long-term use of items containing triclosan may cause endocrine disorders, which may affect the normal operation of endocrine glands such as the thyroid gland.

International journals like Environment and Health play an important role.

It focuses specifically on the impact of changing harmful environmental factors on human health.

Covers a variety of article types and undergoes rigorous and rapid peer review.

This research provides an opportunity to showcase many results, including the discovery of the relationship between the inorganic chemical components of PM2.5 and cardiopulmonary death, as well as the research on the endocrine disorders caused by triclosan.

This move will help prompt more countries and regions to pay attention to environmental health issues and attract many experts and scholars to join research in this field.

Readers, do you think the impact of environmental factors on health should receive more attention?