Breathless in India

Attendees at last week’s conference on air pollution held at the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, can be excused for feeling a little short of breath when the results of a new study on lung function were announced.

Attendees at last week’s conference on air pollution held at the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, can be excused for feeling a little short of breath when the results of a new study on lung function were announced. The study, which examined lung functions of 46,000 women and 17,000 men—all non-smokers—from 17 countries, found that South Asians, particularly Indians, had the poorest lung function of all. It showed that the efficiency of breathing of South Asian subjects was 30 per cent lower than that of Europeans and North Americans. “These are shocking revelations, if you ask me,” says Sundeep Salvi, a Pune-based pulmonologist and the director of the Chest Research Foundation, who is also studying lung function in rural and urban areas. “When a similar study was conducted two decades ago, the difference in lung function [between South Asians and Europeans and North Americans] was 10 per cent. It is extremely worrisome that it has deteriorated 20 per cent.”

About The Author

Shruti Ravindran