The Adverse Effects of Air Pollution on the Eye: A Review

Overview

Journal Int J Environ Res Public Health

Publisher MDPI

Specialties Environmental Health
Public Health

Date 2022 Feb 15

PMID 35162209

Authors

Chia-Ching Lin

Chien-Chih Chiu

Po-Yen Lee

Kuo-Jen Chen

Chen-Xi He

Sheng-Kai Hsu

Kai-Chun Cheng

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Air pollution is inevitably the result of human civilization, industrialization, and globalization. It is composed of a mixture of gases and particles at harmful levels. Particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and carbon dioxides (CO) are mainly generated from vehicle emissions and fuel consumption and are the main materials causing outdoor air pollution. Exposure to polluted outdoor air has been proven to be harmful to human eyes. On the other hand, indoor air pollution from environmental tobacco smoking, heating, cooking, or poor indoor ventilation is also related to several eye diseases, including conjunctivitis, glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In the past 30 years, no updated review has provided an overview of the impact of air pollution on the eye. We reviewed reports on air pollution and eye diseases in the last three decades in the PubMed database, Medline databases, and Google Scholar and discussed the effect of various outdoor and indoor pollutants on human eyes.

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