Air pollution in Australia linked to heart and lung hospitalisations

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-05-12 00:01

Australia; NSW; VIC; QLD

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Despite Australia's air being relatively unpolluted compared with some other countries, an Aussie study found that there is a link here between air pollution exposure and the risk of ending up in the hospital with lung and heart issues. The team used national air pollution estimates from 2016 and hospitalisation data from 1,155 public health areas between 2016 and 2017, representing 23,236,046 Aussies. They found higher exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was consistently linked with increases in hospitalisations for these issues, affecting men and women similarly. Air pollution reduction should remain a priority for policymakers, the authors conclude.

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Journal/
conference: Public Health Research and Practice

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Deakin University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI), The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney

Funder: YW holds an Executive Dean Health Research Fellowship from Deakin University. AO is supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council Emerging Leader 2 Fellowship (2009295). SM is supported by a FAIR Fellowship 2024 Award administered by veski for the Victorian Health and Medical Research Workforce Action Plan on behalf of the Victorian Government. Funding for the Award has been provided by the Victorian Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions. Research at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute is supported by the Victorian Government’s Operational Infrastructure Program.

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