These associations persisted and strengthened after controlling for fine particulate matter<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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TUESDAY, Nov. 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Long-term exposure to black carbon (BC) is associated with an increased risk for developing asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to a study recently published in Environmental Research<\/em>.<\/p>\n Jiawei Zhang, from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, and colleagues followed 28,731 female nurses from the Danish Nurse Cohort from baseline (1993\/1999) until the end of 2018 to examine the association between long-term exposure to air pollution (focusing on BC) and incident asthma and COPD.<\/p>\n The researchers found that 633 nurses developed asthma and 1,145 developed COPD during an average follow-up of 23 years. There was a consistent association seen for long-term exposure to BC with increased risks for both asthma and COPD (hazard ratios [95 percent confidence intervals], 1.06 [1.00 to 1.13] and 1.04 [0.98 to 1.11] per 0.34 \u00b5g\/m3<\/sup> increase in BC, respectively). After controlling for total fine particulate matter (PM2.5<\/sub>) or no-BC PM2.5<\/sub>, these associations persisted and strengthened. Among individuals with overweight or underlying comorbidity, stronger associations of air pollution were seen.<\/p>\n “This underscores the need for targeted air quality regulations to reduce BC emissions, which may have a greater impact on mitigating the burden of chronic respiratory diseases than focusing solely on PM2.5<\/sub>,” the authors write.<\/p>\n