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Do Air Purifiers at Home and Work Make a Difference?

Air purifiers at home and work can make a difference in the short term

Bhavin Jankharia
4 min read
Do Air Purifiers at Home and Work Make a Difference?
Table of Contents
The Guide * The Atmasvasth Guide to Living Long, Healthy - 15 Aug 2021 Understanding the Steps and Taking Control Taking Control * Atmagyan, Atmasurakshit, Atmanivaaran and Atmanirbar - the four Atmas to be Atmasvasth - 16 May 2021 * The Healthy 7 is also the Happy 7 - 13 Mar 2022 * Prev…

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The first time I wrote on air pollution in Jan 2022, it was in the form of a Q & A. The 8th question and its answer went like this.

8. What can we as individuals do to reduce the impact of air pollution on our health?
These can be divided into two main categories; reducing pollutants and reducing risk.
Reducing pollutants means not using stoves with fuel that produce smoke and not using incense sticks (agarbattis) in enclosed rooms. At an environmental level, it would also mean moving eventually to electric cars.
Reducing risk can be further divided into measures that we take based on the pollution levels on that day versus permanent measures.
Permanent measures include the use of appropriate air filters in our offices and homes, efficient air conditioning in our homes and in our cars with our windows up when traveling within the city.
Variable measures depend upon the AQI at that  time…

Air pollution is a classic example of the “tragedy of the commons.” The best way to reduce air pollution is via legislation and measures that benefit the commons, not just single individuals and while our Government is figuring out ways to reduce air pollution, the impact will take years or decades, which is not a period most individuals are willing to wait to let their lungs and bodies become the target of PM2.5 and other noxious particles.

During President Obama’s visit to India in 2015, the US Embassy bought 1800 air purifiers, which were installed in all the places where President Obama was to visit, because the AQI had touched 222, a very unhealthy level, not just for someone from the US, but as we have discussed before, for everyone in Delhi as well. High AQI and PM2.5 levels reduce lifespan and healthspan. Period. Those in less polluted areas live longer. Period.

This is not just restricted to US Presidents. An RTI in Assam revealed that during a visit to Kaziranga with family, of the more than Rs. 1 crore allegedly spent on President Ram Nath Kovind’s trip in Feb 2022, Rs. 1 lakh or so was allegedly spent on an air purifier. I have been told by a prominent chest physician in Delhi that every politician worth their salt and every high income family that can afford to, are surrounded by air purifiers at home and in office, sometimes even carrying portable ones in their cars. The only time they don’t have air purifiers to “purify” the air they breathe, is if and when they leave their houses to run or walk on the roads or in the gardens of Delhi.

This is of course a classic example of health inequity, wherein those with means and resources are able to take steps and measures  to improve their healthspan and lifespan, as against those without such means, who are left behind and live shorter lives with more suffering [1].

The question then is simple. Leaving aside social inequity qualms, if you can afford to, should you buy air purifiers and install them in every room that you are likely to be in, whether it is at home or in the office?

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The answer, even though the data is equivocal at this stage, is…yes. Let’s examine the reasons.

1. Technically, air purifiers work.  Those with good HEPA filters remove between 20-80% of PM2.5 particles [1] within a reasonable radius. That they do their job is not an issue.

2. Air purifiers also appear to improve short term blood pressure and other metabolic parameters as a few short-term RCTs have shown [2].

3. However, we have no data whether air purifiers eventually improve our overall health and increase healthspan and lifespan. Does the use of air purifiers truly negate the ill-effects of the polluted air around you, in the long-term? While air purifiers do help reduce the incidence and severity of attacks of asthma and breathlessness in susceptible people, when the AQI is high, do they make a long-term impact? No one knows, because that kind of research has just not been done.

In our atmasvasth quest to live long healthy, we typically have used data to guide our path. In some instances, such as with meditation and yoga, I have invoked the power of the Lindy effect (if something has been around for thousands of years, perhaps it helps, and will likely be around for a few more thousand years, even though the data is not good) and in other instances, extrapolated data from technical efficacy, as with the use of noise-canceling earphones on a daily basis. The same would apply to the use of air purifiers.

So what should you and I do? If you live in a place with a low AQI, then an air purifier is of no use.  However, if you live in areas with high AQI, it is worth the effort to buy air purifiers for each room that you live or work in, if you can afford to, especially for short term gains. Will they help you and I live long, healthy? Hopefully…that is the hope…


Footnotes

1. Laumbach RJ et al. Personal Interventions for Reducing Exposure and Risk for Outdoor Air Pollution: An Official American Thoracic Society Workshop Report. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2021 Sep;18(9):1435-1443.

2. Morishita M et al. Effect of Portable Air Filtration Systems on Personal Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Blood Pressure Among Residents in a Low-Income Senior Facility: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2018 Oct 1;178(10):1350-1357.

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