Inhaler emissions
Metered-dose asthma inhalers emit outsized portion of greenhouse gases
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Many asthma inhalers emit high levels of hydrofluorocarbons, greenhouse gases that are thousands of times better at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide is.
Stanford Medicine researchers and collaborators investigated the emissions of nearly 70 million inhalers prescribed in 2022 through Medicare and Medicaid. The amount of greenhouse gas the inhalers emitted was equivalent in heat-trapping potency to the carbon dioxide generated by a year of electricity use of about 227,000 American homes.
Jyothi Tirumalasetty, MD, clinical assistant professor of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine, was the lead author of the study, published in August 2024 in JAMA.
The study found that the most commonly used device — a metered-dose inhaler that uses propellants containing hydrofluorocarbons — releases from 9 to 48 kilograms of CO2-equivalent emissions. Of the nearly 70 million prescribed inhalers, metered-dose devices accounted for 70% of claims and 98% of the emissions.
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