September 3, 2018.
Air pollution kills millions of people every year. And before that, it would be responsible for a significant decline in the intellectual capacities of populations who are highly exposed to it.
Researchers discover links between pollution peaks and drop in IQ
The dozens of studies conducted on the effects of air pollution on the body never cease to warn of the urgent need to put in place effective means to fight against this scourge. Recognized as responsible for the appearance of cancer or cardiovascular disease, air pollution could also cause a significant drop in intelligence quotient (IQ) people who live in a very polluted environment.
This is the conclusion reached by Chinese researchers, whose study was recently published in the journal PNAS. Between 2010 and 2014, they observed the intellectual performance of 20,000 people regularly exposed to nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide.. They then compared these first data to the different pollution peaks observed in the cities in which they lived.
Millions of people die from pollution every year
By cross-checking this information, the researchers observed that each pollution peak caused a drop in the intelligence quotient of the participants who had been victims of it. According to one of the authors of this study, interviewed by The Guardian, for a given population, highly subject to pollution, the loss of intelligence quotient would even correspond to ” several years of education “.
According to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2016, 91% of the world’s population is estimated to live in places where WHO air quality guidelines are not met. That same year, an estimated 4.2 million premature deaths were caused by outdoor air pollution.
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