Air pollution continues to be the most popular subject on this website. Now, there’s a great new review as well as a patient handout to explain the basics. It’s from my specialty’s Journal of the American Family Physician. They just published a great review (Outdoor Air Pollutants and Patient Health) which describes the main culprits of air pollution.

It also reviews pollution levels using the US EPA’s Air Quality index as well as action plan. This is exactly the same concept and table that the US Embassy uses in their pollution monitoring, which you can access via websites and iPhone apps. Notice how the recommendation states how levels over 200 are “very unhealthy” and that “everyone should avoid all physical activity outdoors“. How many of us do that? How many schools enact that plan? The graph is below: