Women are more likely to be affected by air pollution when taking part in marathons than their male counterparts, new research has found.

Scientists working at Virginia Tech University in the United States looked into data relating to dozens of individual marathons over the past 28 years.

As well as male and female finishing times, they also took note of air pollutant concentrations and weather data.

The scientists found that, while higher levels of air pollutant molecules did not seem to have any affect on male runners, female competitors tended to record slower-than-usual times, with lead researcher Linsey Marr suggesting that the fact that women have smaller tracheas than men may make it easier for particles to deposit there during an event.

"Previous research has shown that during a race, marathon runners inhale and exhale about the same volume of air as a sedentary person would over the course of two full days," she noted in the journal Medicine and Sports in Exercise.

"Therefore, runners are exposed to much greater amounts of pollutants than under typical breathing conditions."

This comes as thousands of women check their ladies running gear as they get set for this year's London Marathon.

Posted by Tina Wilson ADNFCR-2569-ID-19654459-ADNFCR

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