Australian Study Finds Association Between Air Pollution Levels and Cardio-Respiratory Hospitalisations

A study linking air pollution to cardio-respiratory hospitalisations was released on 2026-05-11. 5 and NO2 was consistently linked with increases in cardio-respiratory hospitalisations, according to Abc reported. Those in the top fifth percentile of exposure had much higher risk for cardio-respiratory hospitalisations than those in the bottom quartile of exposure, Clare Walter said.

The study was carried out by researchers from Deakin University, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland and The University of Sydney. It used national air pollution estimates from 2016 and hospitalisation data from 1,155 public health areas between 2016 and 2017.

The link between air pollution and hospitalisations extended across metropolitan, regional and rural Australia.

Air pollution contributed to breathing difficulties, heart problems and stroke. The report acknowledged emerging links between pollution and neurological disorders like dementia. 5 was below the nationally set standard, though the report could not provide a national average for nitrogen dioxide due to limited data and reporting methods.

The report found air pollution caused roughly the same amount of disease in Australia as sun exposure. It recommended banning wood heaters, phasing out the sale of new diesel vehicles and improving bushfire control to reduce cardio-respiratory hospital admissions. Clare Walter coordinates the Sustainable Health and Environment Network at Deakin University.

"There is no safe level of exposure to vehicle pollution," she said. " "We would never say the road toll is good, even if it was a year where there'd been a comparatively better road toll," Walter added. She recommended installing air filters in all childcare centres, moving schools and childcare centres away from busy roads, increasing green barriers between roads and play areas and stopping vehicles from idling at drop-off.

One in nine Australians has asthma according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures from 2022. During the 2019-2020 bushfires there were more than 1,500 emergency department attendances for people with asthma, more than 2,000 hospital admissions for lung problems, more than 1,000 hospital admissions for heart problems and more than 400 deaths caused by the smoke, Kate Miranda said.

5 particles are roughly 30 to 100 times thinner than a human hair and can travel deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream.

Asthma Australia and the researchers called for reductions in air pollution and a new air quality rating system that would provide nationally consistent categories, colours and health advice. Julia Ovens, a 53-year-old from Carrum in Melbourne's south-east diagnosed with asthma at age 10, described herself as a frequent hospital visitor.

She develops a daily "battle plan" using multiple apps to monitor weather, air pollution, pollen, planned burns and fires before commuting 40 minutes to work.

"There have been times when I've thought, 'If the ambulance doesn't come soon, I'm finished,'" she said. Ovens said the condition affects her mentally because she lives day-by-day not knowing what she can do. She noted that accessing live data remains difficult as air quality can change from one minute to the next.

"People should have the right to breathe freely," she said.