Lung Association: High ozone levels, obesity a bad mix

For the 29 percent of Connecticut adults who live with obesity, summer brings a difficult form of air pollution.

Ground-level ozone is the colorless, odorless gas formed when auto exhaust reacts with sunlight at temperatures above 80 degrees. Ozone can be dangerous for people who have higher body mass indexes.

If the pandemic shutdown were now, those with obesity and others who suffer from the adverse effects of ground-level ozone might have caught a break. Officials know that other forms of pollution dropped significantly during the early spring.

Particulate pollution was greatly reduced briefly, according to a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection report, because so many cars and trucks remained off the roads for weeks. DEEP reported that nitrogen dioxide levels, or NOx, decreased 30 percent from normal along Interstate 95 from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

As summer's heat sets in, tailpipe emissions are also rising as the state's economy opens, creating conditions that are ideal for dangerously high levels of ground-level ozone.

Those trends likely will match those of previous years.

The American Lung Association’s “State of the Air” report issued on April 21 rated all Connecticut counties “F” for groundlevel ozone for 2016-2018. That F rating refers to the number of “orange” days, when at-risk groups—including people with obesity and those with chronic respiratory illnesses—are warned to limit outdoor activity, and “red” days, which indicate unhealthy ozone for all. The three counties with the worst ratings were Fairfield, New Haven and Middlesex.

Obesity rates, especially among Black people and Latino people, have increased as the climate has warmed, and scientists find the two are connected in two different ways: First, hotter summer extreme temperatures worsen chronic health problems for people carrying extra weight.

On the other hand, researchers have found, the American way of life—frequent car travel, sedentary routines, and industrial farming all contribute to climate change. Large-scale, energy-intensive food production feeds high greenhouse gas emissions while contributing to social conditions that promote processed food with poor nutritional value over access to fresh food.

Obesity is defined as a body mass index, or BMI, over 30. Severe obesity is defined as a BMI over 40. Examples of obesity are a 5-foot-6-inch tall person who weighs 186 pounds or more, or a 6-foot tall person weighing more than 221. Examples of severe obesity are a 5-foot-6-inch person weighing more than 247 and a 6-foot-tall person over 294.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its most recent national report that obesity affects 42 percent of adults, 40 percent of young adults (age 20-39), 45 percent of middle-aged adults (age 40-59) and 43 percent of people age 60 and older.

When combining data from 2016-2018, Black people had the highest prevalence of obesity at 39.1 percent, followed by Hispanic people, 33 percent and non-Hispanic white people, 29.3 percent, according to the CDC.

In Connecticut, 27 percent of all adults, almost 12 percent of children and 14 percent of toddlers (2-4) have obesity. In 1990, the rate was 10 percent of all adults, reports Connecticut Data Haven in its 2019 Community Health WellBeing Survey.

Across all groups, roughly a third of Connecticut’s population, about 1.2 million people suffer on high-ozone days. In 2019, there were officially 21 high-ozone days. In 2020, two days have exceeded the threshold as of July 7.

Obesity is a disease of inflammation—meaning the body perceives an invader, and hormones that drive metabolism react. Ozone increases inflammation in the human body, said Dr. John Morton. He is a surgeon, obesity researcher, and division chief for bariatric and minimally invasive surgery for the Yale New Haven Health System and vice chairman of surgical quality for Yale School of Medicine.

“Higher ozone is going to create a double hit,” he said. “You have the inflammatory response of obesity along with ozone, which will make it worse.

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