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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Respiratory effects of outdoor air pollution.

Outdoor air pollution adversely affects human health and the quality of the environment. However, epidemiologic studies of these effects are difficult to control because of confounding variables such as age and cigarette smoking and the difficulty in estimating doses of pollutants. Drs Griffith and Levin discuss the relationship between major types of pollutants and increased morbidity and mortality from respiratory disease.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Sources and importance of indoor air pollution].

Indoor air quality affects a person's performance and well-being. This justifies the study of indoor air pollution for the development of comfortable and safe environments. A simultaneous indoor/outdoor sampling programme was carried out at three sites in Zurich. Parameters included CO, NO, NO2, and HCHO.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Respiratory function changes from inhalation of polluted air.

Exposure to polluted air may trigger respiratory symptoms in certain subjects. Maximal expiratory flow volume measurements and methacholine bronchial challenges were conducted in 25 asthmatics and 30 healthy volunteers, before and after breathing bagged polluted air for 30 min, to determine whether exposures to polluted air influence respiratory function and bronchial reactivity. No differences in forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1.0), total respiratory resistance (Rrs), and bronchial reactivity were noted for normal subjects after they inhaled polluted air and ambient air. Significant decreases in FEV1.0 and FEV1.0/FVC, an increase in airway reactivity, and elevation of baseline Rrs values occurred in the asthmatic subjects, after exposure to polluted air. These findings suggest that asthmatic patients are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of polluted air.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The role of biomarkers in derivation of WHO-guidance values for air pollutants.

The Air Quality Guidelines for Europe (AQG) have provided a basis for the control of air pollution, and have contributed to the maintenance and improvement of public health in several countries. The process of updating and revision of the AQG will be completed by 1996. The applicability of biomarkers for derivation of health-based guidelines will depend on the validation of biomarkers also at low (environmental) levels of exposure, the availability of adequate population studies using biomarker information, and the development of better quantitative relationships between ambient levels, biomarker concentrations and, ideally, effects.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1997

[The assessment of population exposure to atmospheric air pollution].

The air pollution concentrations of SO2 and suspended particulate matter in 1993 in one Polish city Poznan and over entire Poland have been modeled and mapped. The data for Poznan were obtained during special epidemiological study by means of a dense network of passive samples and the data for Poland were obtained from the routine network operated by Sanitary Epidemiological Stations. The modeling employed the kriging method of ARC/INFO computer package. It was found that about 1/3 of Polish population was exposed to the SO2 and/or SPM level that exceeded annual recommended values. In Poznan 25% of children aged 8-9 years were exposed to SO2 level above 100 during heating season 1992/1993.

Air Pollution↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Air pollution and allergy: experimental studies on modulation of allergen release from pollen by air pollutants.

The fact that allergic diseases increase in prevalence is a generally accepted and worldwide phenomenon. The causes for this increase are not known: only hypothetical concepts exist. Epidemiological studies comparing Eastern and Western European populations have shown a striking difference in the prevalence of respiratory atopic diseases, which is lower in the East. At the same time, different patterns of air pollution have been described, namely 'classical' type I, characterized by SO2 and dust prevailing in the East, and 'modern' type II, characterized by organic compounds, fine particles and ozone, which is more prominent in the West. Type II was associated in multivariate regression analysis with increased prevalence of IgE-mediated allergy. Pollen grains collected from industrial regions with high polyaromatic hydrocarbon load in West Germany, but not in East Germany, were shown to be agglomerated with airborne particles. In vitro exposure of pollen to particles indicated morphological changes and increased allergen release from the pollen. In vitro exposure of pollen to gaseous pollutants (SO2 and NO2) under different conditions of humidity resulted in SO2-induced, but not NO2-induced reduction of allergen release from pollen. It is concluded that the bioavailability of grass pollen allergens may be modulated by air pollutants, supporting the concept of an interaction between pollen and pollutants in the atmosphere outside the organism which in turn may affect allergy-relevant phenomena.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMed1996

Health effects of acid aerosols on North American children: air pollution exposures.

Air pollution measurements were conducted over a 1-year period in 24 North American communities participating in a respiratory health study. Ozone, particle strong acidity, sulfate, and mass (PM10 and PM2.1) were measured in all communities. In 20 of the communities, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, nitric acid, nitrous acid, and particulate nitrate were measured. The sampler was located centrally in the community whenever possible and samples were collected every other day. Concentrations of particle strong acidity, mass, sulfate, and ozone were highly correlated both in the region of the country defined as a high-sulfur source area and in the downwind transport regions. These regions of the eastern United States and southern Canada experienced the greatest particle strong acidity, sulfate, and particle mass concentrations during the spring and summer months (May-September). The particle strong acidity concentrations were highest in regions close to the high sulfur emission areas of the United States; that is, in the area immediately to the west of the Appalachian Plateau and west of the Allegheny Mountains (western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia) up through southern Ontario. The frequency of particle strong acidity events decreased with transport distance from the region of highest sulfur emissions. Low particle strong acidity and sulfates were found at the western and midwestern sites of both the United States and Canada. Substantial concentrations of nitric acid were found in two of the California sites as well as many sites in the northeastern portion of the United States. Sites selected for the epidemiologic study provide a range of annual mean particle strong acidity exposures from below the limit of detection to more than 50 nmol/m3.

Aerosols↗
PubMed2001

Short-term variation in air pollution and in average lung function among never-smokers. The Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults (SAPALDIA).

The present analysis was directed at investigating associations between short-term variations in air pollutant levels (NO2, total suspended particulates [TSP], O3) and cross-sectional lung function (FVC, FEV1, and forced expiratory flow at 25% to 75% of FVC [FEF25-75]) within a random sample of 3,912 adult never-smokers from eight areas of Switzerland (i.e., participants in the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung Diseases in Adults [SAPALDIA] cross-sectional study, 1991). Within each local data set, the logarithms of FVC, FEV1, and FEF25-75 were regressed against the 24-h-means of NO2 and TSP and the 8-h mean of O3 (10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.) on the examination day, with control for subjects' sex, age, height and weight, seasonal fluctuations and weekly cycles and meteorologic factors. On average, a 10-microg/m3 increment in the daily level of NO2, TSP, and O3 was associated with decrements in FEV1 of 0.67% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13% to 1.21%), 0.46% (95% CI: 0.14% to 0.78%), and 0.51% (95% CI: 0.13% to 0.88%), respectively. Moreover, 10-microg/m3 increments in NO2 and TSP were associated with decrements in FVC of 0.73% (95% CI: 0.22% to 1.23%) and 0.36% (95% CI: 0.06% to 0.66%), respectively, and a 10-microg/m3 increment in O(3) was associated with a decrement in FEF25-75 of 1.04% (95% CI: 0.22% to 1.85%). Our results suggest that FVC, FEV1, and FEF25-75 vary with the daily level of NO2, TSP, and O3, but that these measures of lung function do not allow separation of the effects of particulates from those of NO2.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The South Karelia Air Pollution Study: acute health effects of malodorous sulfur air pollutants released by a pulp mill.

We evaluated the acute health effects of a strong emission of malodorous sulfur compounds released from a pulp mill in South Karelia, Finland. The 24-hour ambient air concentrations of hydrogen sulfide for the two emission days were 35 and 43 micrograms/m3 (maximum 4-hour 135 micrograms/m3). A questionnaire was distributed after the high exposure and later after a low exposure period to 29 households with 75 subjects living in the nearby community. During the high exposure, 63% of the respondents reported experience of at least one symptom compared to 26% during the reference period. Every third participant reported difficulties in breathing. In the 45 subjects responding to both questionnaires more eye, respiratory and neuropsychological symptoms occurred during the exposure compared to the reference period. The strong malodorous emission from a pulp mill caused an alarming amount of adverse effects in the exposed population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Human exposure assessment in air pollution systems.

The air pollution problem can be depicted as a system consisting of several basic components: source, concentration, exposure, dose, and adverse effects. Exposure, the contact between an agent (e.g., an air pollutant) and a target (e.g., a human respiratory tract), is the key to linking the pollution source and health effects. Human exposure to air pollutants depends on exposure concentration and exposure duration. Exposure concentration is the concentration of a pollutant at a contact boundary, which usually refers to the human breathing zone. However, ambient concentrations of regulated pollutants at monitoring sites have been measured in practice to represent actual exposure. This can be a valid practice if the pollutants are ones that are predominantly generated outdoors and if the monitoring sites are appropriately selected to reflect where people are. Results from many exposure studies indicate that people are very likely to receive the greatest exposure to many toxic air pollutants not outside but inside places such as homes, offices, and automobiles. For many of these pollutants, major sources of exposure can be quite different from major sources of emission. This is because a large emission source can have a very small value of exposure effectiveness, i.e., the fraction of pollutant released from a source that actually reaches the human breathing zone. Exposure data are crucial to risk management decisions for setting priorities, selecting cost-effective approaches to preventing or reducing risks, and evaluating risk mitigation efforts. Measurement or estimate of exposure is essential but often inadequately addressed in environmental epidemiologic studies. Exposure can be quantified using direct or indirect measurement methods, depending upon the purpose of exposure assessment and the availability of relevant data. The rapidly developing battery and electronic technologies as well as advancements in molecular biology are expected to accelerate the improvement of current methods and the development of new methods for future exposure assessment.

Air Pollutants↗