Air pollution speeds up bone loss from osteoporosis, says study

According to a study, Increased levels of air pollutants such as nitrous oxides are linked with bone damage among postmenopausal women. It is found the effects were most evident on the lumbar spine  with nitrous oxides (NO) twice as damaging to the area as in normal aging, according to the scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, US. 

While the previous research on individual pollutants have suggested adverse effects on bone mineral density, osteoporosis risk and fractures in older individuals.

The latest research published in the journal e-clinical medicine which is briefly written on the connection between air pollution and bone mineral density specifically in postmenopausal women, and the effects of air pollution mixtures on bone outcomes.

The overall study has been prepared based on the collected data from the Women’s Health Initiative study which is an ethnically diverse group of 161,808 (over 1.6 lakh) postmenopausal women.

They estimated air pollution (PM10, NO, NO2, and SO2) exposures based on participants’ home addresses.

The team used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to measure bone mineral density (BMD) at enrollment and at follow-up at year one, year three, and year six.

The magnitude of the effects of nitrogen oxides on lumbar spine BMD would amount to 1.22 per cent annual reductions — nearly double the annual effects of age on any of the anatomical sites evaluated, the researchers said.

These effects are believed to happen through bone cell death by way of oxidative damage and other mechanisms, they said.

Postmenopausal women are at higher risk, with one in two women over 50 experiencing a bone fracture because of osteoporosis, they said.

(with PTI inputs)