Bad Air Leads to Kidney Disease

Guest: Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center, Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Education at the Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System.  What do Beijing, New Delhi and Salt Lake City have in common come winter? Really bad air quality tied to something called an inversion, where warm air traps a layer of cold air and smog low over the city, lingering for days – or even weeks. A form of air pollution called fine particulate matter is of particular concern during inversions. It’s been linked to asthma, lung disease, heart attack and stroke. Now researchers believe it’s tied to kidney disease, too.