Air pollution causes catalogue of health problems PA 16 December 2020, 12:09 pm The second inquest for Ella Kissi-Debrah is thought to be the first time that air pollution has been recorded as a medical cause of death, but the damage done to people’s health has long been known. Pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide and small particles known as particulate matter, or PMs, play a role in the equivalent of 40,000 early deaths a year in the UK, experts have said. Air pollution can create a catalogue of health problems: it triggers strokes, heart and asthma attacks, increasing the risk of hospitalisation or death, causes cancer and can stunt lung growth in children.