According to a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine, you're most likely to die of a respiratory illness in Riverside, California, and least likely in our very own SF. San Francisco comes in last place for concentrations of ground ozone among major cities, making it the safest place for avoiding lung disease.
Efforts to curb ground ozone levels by the EPA have waned in recent years, and the new study shows exactly what impact location and corresponding ozone levels have had on the health of 400,000 individuals over the course of 25 years. The study also tracked levels of airborne particulate matter--pollutants most associated with deaths from heart disease or stroke.