Hospital appointments linked to air pollution have more than doubled in just five years, NHS figures show.
Poor air quality was believed to be a factor in 6,312 appointments at hospitals in England last year – up from 2,550 in 2014.
Polluted air can aggravate existing respiratory issues such as asthma – but there is also evidence that long-term exposure can lead to heart disease, strokes, lung cancer and respiratory disease.
It comes as a new inquest is due to be opened this year into the death of nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah, who suffered a fatal asthma attack.
She lived near the busy South Circular Road in South London, and had three years of seizures and 27 visits to hospital for breathing problems before her death in 2013.
An inquest in 2014 focused on her medical care but that was later quashed in the light of new evidence on air pollution levels near her home.
A nearby monitoring station found air pollution levels “consistently” ex- ceeded lawful EU limits during the three years prior to her death.
It means Ella could become the first person in the UK for whom air pollution is listed as a cause of death.
At the same time a study has found that babies in pushchairs are being exposed to dangerous levels of air pollution.
They could be breathing 44% more harmful pollutants than their parents or carers during the morning and afternoon school runs, according the University of Surrey’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research.
A child sitting at the bottom of a double pushchair faced up to 72% higher exposure to pollutants than a child on the top seat.
But pushchair covers cut the concentration of small-sized pollutant particles by as much as 39%, the team found.
Air pollution was last year named as the biggest environmental threat to health in the UK, with between 28,000 and 36,000 deaths a year attributed to long-term exposure.
Public Health England called on local authorities to discourage highly polluting vehicles from entering populated areas.
They also demanded more investment in clean public transport and called for councils to encourage the uptake of low-emission vehicles such as electric cars.
Friends of the Earth campaigner Jenny Bates said: “Road traffic is a key part of this problem. Ending the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans is a necessary step, but needs to happen earlier than the Government’s planned 2035 date.
"They should also be leading on a national scrappage scheme to help get existing high-emission cars off the road.”
