Environmental Lung Disease



Environmental Lung Disease

Abstract

The occupational and environmental lung diseases do not exhibit distinctive clinical manifestations (Bardasi & Rigg, 2003). Consequently, the history of exposure is an essential component of the assessment and should be included in the initial workup of any patient with pulmonary disease. As the length of time between exposure and onset of lung disease is highly variable, may be necessary to obtain a detailed history that reveals a possible ancient exposure. The study conducted by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, (2008) reveals that Causes of cancer related to the external environment are environmental factors such as pollutants that increase the risk of developing cancer. For example, it is estimated that in 2004 the impact of indoor radon caused 3-14% of all lung cancer cases, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in many countries. Currently there are over 100,000 chemicals polluting and less than 10% of them have been valued for their adverse health effects. Asthma, neurological disorders, malformations, poisoning and cancer are just some of the diseases that the European Union considers attributable to environmental risk factors.

Discussion and Analysis

Despite this exposure, lung function of most people is rarely affected, because the lungs are equipped with a complex system that reduces the effects produced by inhaled potentially harmful toxins and preserves sensitive mechanism of alveolar gas exchange surface. Even so, the prevalence of lung disease has increased dramatically over the past few decades, in part due to exposure to respiratory toxins.

They measured levels of environmental toxins in the blood of about 2000 people, which also used ultrasound to evaluate if indeed there was atherosclerosis in the arteries of the study participants. The researches claim to found a clearer link between atherosclerosis and increased organic environmental toxins with the amount of risk taken into considerations. Indeed, these findings are important because they indicate that long exposure to these toxins may be involved in the occurrence of atherosclerosis and thus can lead to future cardiovascular disease and even death (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 2008).

The Causes of Cancer Related To Environmental and Occupational Activities

Cancer is one of the main causes of death in the world - in 2008 there were 12.7 million new cancer cases and 7.6 million deaths from cancer. Currently 63% of all cancer deaths are recorded in low-and middle-income countries and is forecast this figure will grow. ...