West Midlands air pollution causing up to 2,300 early deaths each year, research suggests

Every resident of the West Midlands lives in an area exceeding the World Health Organization’s air quality guidelines, and air pollution in the region is causing up to 2,300 premature deaths each year according to new research.

The team from WM-Air—Clean Air Science for the West Midlands—developed a new air quality analysis tool and, using data from 2019, found that every ward in the WMCA area exceeded WHO safe levels of Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) and Particulate Matter (PM2.5), and the annual health burden included up to:

2,300 deaths,

4,200 asthma diagnoses,

1,400 coronary heart disease (CHD) diagnoses,

300 lung cancer diagnoses, and

1,000 stroke cases

“We also know that there is a potential link between air pollution and increased risk of developing other major chronic diseases including COPD and types of dementia, so the impact is likely to be even higher.”