Pollution cost 2.1 million man years in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Over 2.1 million potential years of life have been lost because of cardio vascular diseases, caused by pollution in the city, reveals a first-of-its-kind study conducted by researcher Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy, a lecturer in information systems, Coventry University, UK, under the supervision of Prof. Ian Marshall, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the same university.

The study stated that to analyse the effects of air pollutants on CVD in the city, the researchers obtained over one million death records and found that nearly 40% of all mortalities were due to CVD. The potential years of life lost (PYLL), an estimate of average number of years a person would have lived if he or she had not died prematurely, was calculated from 2010 to 2013.

These potential years lost is an important factor, as preventive measures taken by the government will lead to significant economic impact on the city, Dr Chinnaswamy said.

The study also revealed that air pollution has exceeded permissible limits across all the 198 wards in the city. Pollution due to particles less than or equal to 10 micrometres (PM10) has exceeded in many areas.