Paris (AFP)

The "pandemic" of air pollution reduces life expectancy in the world by almost three years on average, and causes 8.8 million premature deaths per year, according to a study published Tuesday.

"Air pollution is a greater risk to public health than smoking," Jos Lelieveld of the Max Planck Institute (Mainz, Germany), first author of the study published in the journal, told AFP. the European Cardiology Society, Cardiovascular Research.

A disaster that could be avoided "largely by replacing fossil fuels with clean renewable energy," he said.

Compared to other causes of premature death, air pollution kills 19 times more people each year than malaria, nine times more than HIV / AIDS, and almost three times more than alcohol, after the study.

Coronary heart disease and stroke account for almost half of these deaths, lung disease and other noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure make up the majority.

Only 6% of deaths from polluted air are due to lung cancer.

"Our results show that there is a + air pollution pandemic +", comments Thomas Münzel (Max Planck Institute) responsible for this research.

"Air pollution and smoking are preventable, but in recent decades, much less attention has been paid to air pollution than to smoking, especially among cardiologists," regrets -he.

Asia is the most affected: the average lifespan is reduced by 4.1 years in China, by 3.9 years in India and by 3.8 years in Pakistan.

In India, in Uttar Pradesh (200 million inhabitants), pollution by fine particles alone reduces life expectancy by 8.5 years, while in the Chinese province of Hebei, the deficit is nearly six years, according to the Air Quality Life Index, developed by researchers at the Energy Policy Institute in Chicago.

The life expectancy of Africans is reduced by 3.1 years on average, and from 4.5 to 7.3 years in some countries: Chad, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Côte d'Ivoire.

Among the wealthier countries, the former satellite states of the Soviet Union have the deadliest pollution, particularly in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.

- 5.5 million preventable deaths -

"About two-thirds of premature deaths are attributable to human-made pollution, mainly due to the use of fossil fuels," notes Thomas Münzel.

"It goes up to 80% in rich countries," and he adds, "5.5 million deaths worldwide per year are potentially preventable."

The least affected regions of the world are the Americas, western and northern Europe and small island states.

The figure of 8.8 million premature deaths per year is double the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO).

"The impact of air pollution on cardiovascular and other non-communicable diseases has been considerably underestimated," says Jos Lelieveld, reinforcing other research making the same observation.

In China, the number of premature deaths is 2.8 million per year, two and a half times the WHO estimates.

Air pollution damages blood vessels, causing elevated blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attacks and heart failure.

"The realization that air pollution is a major health risk can contribute to the desire to phase out fossil fuels - while helping to reduce global warming," says Jos Lelieveld.

To assess the impact of air pollution on life expectancy, the researchers applied the 2015 data on exposure to microparticles (PM2.5) and ozone to models that simulate how chemical processes in the atmosphere interact with natural and artificial pollutants, by integrating epidemiological data from the Global Burden of Disease.

© 2020 AFP