Air pollution in Telangana linked to increased risk of stroke, heart diseases: Study
New Delhi: Exposure to air pollution may lead to higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as stroke or heart attack, according to a study conducted in Hyderabad, Telangana.
The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was part of The Cardiovascular Health effects of Air pollution in Telangana, India (CHAI) project which aims to analyse the association between particulate matter levels in the air and cardiovascular risk, and is the first to establish this link in a low-middle income country's population.
According to the study, the level of exposure to ambient and household air pollution, is related to carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT).
CIMT is the width of the inner two layers of the carotid artery that supplies blood to the brain, face, and neck and is a marker for atherosclerosis -- a plaque forming disease of the arteries affecting more than 10 million Indians each year, the researchers, including those from Sri Ramachandra University (SRU) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, said.
As part of the study, an international team of researchers measured the CIMT of 3,372 participants from a peri-urban region of Hyderabad, Telangana, and estimated their exposure to air pollution. The air pollution exposure was calculated using an algorithm called land use regression (LUR), which the researchers said is frequently used to predict the amount of fine particles suspended in air (diameter under 2.5 m) in high-income countries.
The participants also provided information on the type of cooking fuel they used, the study noted.
The results of the study indicate that a high annual exposure to PM2.5 fine particles is linked to a higher CIMT, particularly in men above 40 years of age, or those with cardiometabolic risk factors.
The researchers said that nearly 60 per cent of the participants used biomass cooking fuel.
"People using biomass fuel for cooking had a higher CIMT, particularly women who cooked in unventilated spaces," said Otavio Ranzani, lead scientist of the study from Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) in Spain.
"Women had a higher CIMT than men, which could be due to the fact that they spend more time in the kitchen, breathing air polluted by biomass fuel," he said.
The study noted that the annual average exposure to PM2.5 among the participants was 32.7 microgram per cubic metre, which is far above the WHO recommended maximum level of 10 microgram per cubic metre.
"This study is relevant for countries which, like India, are experiencing a rapid epidemiological transition and a sharp increase in the prevalence of hypertension, diabetes and obesity. In addition, the country is affected by high levels of air pollution, both ambient and indoors," said Cathryn Tonne, study co-author from ISGlobal.
The researchers cautioned that the study cannot be generalised to all urban and peri-urban centres in India since the pollution levels and the prevalence of metabolic disorders varied across the country.
"We observed a lower level of annual ambient PM2.5 than occurs in cities in Northern India (e.g. New Delhi), and lower prevalence of central obesity and metabolic syndrome than expected for urban populations in India."
"Therefore, generalisability of our estimates to urban India may be somewhat limited, and further studies are needed to better represent other populations in LMICs," the researchers wrote in the study.
Tonne said there is a need to perform more studies on air pollution in other low- and middle-income countries, since the conclusions may differ considerably from those conducted in high income countries as there are differences in population characteristics and air pollution levels and sources.
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Nitish likely to resign as Bihar CM after last meeting of cabinet on April 14
Patna (PTI): Bihar inched towards a political transition on Sunday with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar convening a meeting of his cabinet on April 14, following which the JD(U) president is likely to relinquish the post to make way for a BJP-led government.
According to a notification issued by the cabinet secretariat department, the meeting will take place at 11 am, after which the longest-serving CM of the state, who got elected to the Rajya Sabha last week, was expected to submit his resignation to Governor Syed Ata Hasnain.
Earlier, Kumar's close aide and JD(U) national working president Sanjay Kumar Jha had told reporters that the process of formation of a new government was likely to "roll out after April 13".
Meanwhile, the BJP, which has been approaching the prospect of having its first- ever chief minister in the state with considerable restraint, got down to business and named Shivraj Singh Chouhan as a "central observer", who would oversee the change of guard.
A statement issued by the BJP headquarters in Delhi said the parliamentary board has appointed Chouhan, a Union minister and a multiple-term former CM of Madhya Pradesh, as “central observer for electing the leader of legislature party in Bihar”.
Senior JD(U) leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, had said here earlier in the day "the new chief minister will be elected by the NDA, upon the recommendation of the BJP, which has a big role to play".
Speculations are doing the rounds that Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who holds the crucial Home portfolio in the outgoing government, is the frontrunner among contenders for the top job.
BJP leaders in the state, who have been making frantic visits to Delhi in the recent past, are keeping their cards close to the chest.
"Who will be the next CM is a decision to be taken by our central leadership," minister Dilip Jaiswal, who is a former state BJP president, had said a day ago, adding, "I am not at all in the race".
Other than Choudhary, who had joined the BJP less than a decade ago, those whose names are doing the rounds include Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and state ministers Lakhendra Paswan and Shreyasi Singh.
According to BJP sources, all these leaders fit the bill in different ways. Choudhary is a ‘Koeri’, and his elevation could ensure that the ‘Luv Kush’ (Kurmi Koeri) equation nurtured by Kumar during his 20-year-rule remained intact in favour of the NDA, after the JD(U) supremo's departure.
Rai is a Yadav and brings the promise of support of the largest caste group in Bihar, which has been with Lalu Prasad's RJD, the BJP's principal rival in the state, for decades.
Paswan is a Dalit and his elevation could help the BJP transcend its "pro-upper caste" image, which brings its own disadvantages in the Hindi heartland, where the Mandal agitation of the 1990s has cast a long shadow, the sources said.
Singh, in her 30s, is an upper caste Rajput, but her elevation could be projected as the party giving preference to young blood.
Moreover, the party has also been trying to present itself as a champion of gender equality, by pushing through the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ that ensures 33 per cent reservation to women in both Houses of Parliament.
However, the BJP sources admitted that there was a strong possibility of the central leadership springing a "surprise", citing examples of many states ruled by the party, where less fancied leaders have landed the top job in the recent past.
Actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, a Trinamool Congress MP who spent nearly three decades in the BJP, had said, while commenting on the political situation in Bihar that "we have plenty of deserving people here but we must be beware of a baba who may arrive with a parchi".
The allusion was to Rajasthan, where Bhajan Lal Sharma was named the chief minister two years ago at a legislature party meeting, where Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was seen on camera taking out a piece of paper with the name of the first-term MLA written on it.
