Air Pollution, Political Corruption, and Cardiovascular Disease in the Former Soviet Republics

Abstract

Background: Ambient air pollution is a serious problem in many Eastern European countries. Elevated levels of fine airborne particulate matter (PM_2.5) pollution in the former Soviet republics relative to the rest of Europe contribute to elevated rates of disease, especially cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Objective: Information on the underlying social and political causes of air pollution in Eastern Europe is important for pollution control and disease prevention.

Methods: To quantify relationships between pollution, and air-pollution-related CVD, and political corruption throughout Europe and particularly in the former Soviet republics, we relied on the State of Global Air report for information on air pollution levels; on the 2019 Global Burden of Disease study (GBD) for estimates of the burden of air-pollution-related CVD; and on Transparency International (TI) for rankings of governmental corruption.

Findings: Air-pollution-related CVD was responsible for an estimated 178,000 (UI: 112,000-251,000) premature deaths and for the loss of 4,010,000 (UI: 2,518,000--5,611,000) productive years of life (DALYs) in 2019 in the former Soviet republics. A significant positive correlation (R = 0.72, p 1.7e-8) was found across Europe between air-pollution-related CVD mortality rates and national corruption rankings.

Conclusions: We conclude that lack of governmental transparency, inadequate air pollution monitoring, and opposition by vested interests have hindered air pollution control and perpetuated high rates of pollution-related morbidity and mortality in the former Soviet republics. Ending corruption and modernizing industrial production will be key to air pollution and related diseases.

Keywords: Eastern Europe; Soviet Union; air pollution; cardiovascular disease; corruption; fine particulate matter (PM2.5).