研究表明，城市空气污染对肺的危害，不亚于每天吸20支烟

Air pollution near a busy road is as bad for the lungs as smoking 20 cigarettes a day, according to a new study.

根据一项新的研究，繁忙道路附近的空气污染对肺的危害不亚于每天吸20支烟。

It fuels deadly emphysema — an obstructive disease that causes breathing difficulties.

它会引发致命的肺气肿——一种导致呼吸困难的阻塞性疾病。

Living on a busy road for a decade was found to be equivalent to getting through a packet of cigarettes daily — for 29 years. The research was published in JAMA.

研究发现，在繁忙的道路上生活10年，相当于每天抽一包烟——长达29年。这项研究发表在《美国医学会杂志》上。

“Rates of chronic lung disease in this country are going up and increasingly it is recognized that this disease occurs in non-smokers,” Joel Kaufman, a professor at the University of Washington and a co-author on the study, said in a statement.

华盛顿大学教授、这项研究的合著者乔尔·考夫曼在一份声明中说：“美国的慢性肺病发病率正在上升，而且越来越多的人认识到，这种疾病发生在非吸烟者身上。”

“We were surprised to see how strong air pollution’s impact was on the progression of emphysema on lung scans. We really need to understand what’s causing chronic lung disease and it appears that air pollution exposures that are common and hard to avoid might be a major contributor.”

“我们很惊讶地发现，空气污染对肺气肿扫描的影响如此之大。我们真的需要了解是什么导致了慢性肺病，而常见且难以避免的空气污染暴露可能是一个主要因素。”

Previous research has shown a clear link between air pollution and heart and lung diseases.

以前的研究已经表明，空气污染与心肺疾病之间有着明确的联系。

But the latest study is the first to show an association with emphysema, particularly from ozone, which is fueled by climate change.

但是，最新的研究首次表明，这与肺气肿有关，特别是由气候变化推动的臭氧引起的肺气肿。

The team followed more than 7,000 people from 2000 to 2018 in six US urban areas.

从2000年到2018年，该团队在6个美国城市地区跟踪了7000多人。

Most airborne pollutants are in decline with efforts to reduce them working, but dangerous ozone has been increasing.

大多数空气中的污染物都在减少，但危险的臭氧却在增加。

Earlier this year, research found air pollution is responsible for the deaths of nearly 9 million people across the world each year.

今年早些时候，研究发现，全球每年有近900万人死于空气污染。