scholarly journals Are children who are treated for asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis disadvantaged in their educational attainment when acutely exposed to air pollution and pollen? A feasibility study

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Mizen ◽  
Jane Lyons ◽  
Sarah Rodgers ◽  
Damon Berridge ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Allergic Rhinitis ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Treatment Seeking ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Individual Level

BackgroundThere is a lack of evidence of the adverse effects which air quality has on cognition for people with air quality-related health conditions, these are not widely documented in the literature. Educational attainment, as a proxy for cognition, may increase with improved air quality. ObjectivesPrepare individual and household level linked environmental and health data for analysis within an anonymised safe haven; analyse the linked dataset for our study investigating: Cognition, Respiratory Tract illness and Effects of eXposure (CORTEX). MethodsAnonymised, routinely collected health and education data were linked with high spatial resolution pollution measurements and daily pollen measurements to provide repeated cross-sectional cohorts (2009-2015) on 18,241 pupils across the city of Cardiff, using the SAIL databank. A fully adjusted multilevel linear regression analysis examined associations between health status and/or air quality. Cohort, school and individual level confounders were controlled for. We hope that using individual-level multi-location daily exposure assessment will help to clarify the role of traffic and prevent potential community-level confounding. Combined effects of air quality on variation in educational attainment between those treated for asthma and/or Severe Allergic Rhinitis (SAR), and those not treated, was also investigated. FindingsAsthma was not associated with exam performance (p=0.7). However, SAR was positively associated with exam performance (p<0.001). Exposure to air pollution was negatively associated with educational attainment regardless of health status. ConclusionsIrrespective of health status, air quality was negatively associated with educational attainment. Treatment seeking behaviour may explain the positive association between SAR and educational attainment. For a more accurate reflection of health status, health outcomes not subject to treatment seeking behaviours, such as emergency hospital admission, should be investigated.

scholarly journals Is educational attainment associated with acute exposure to air pollution and pollen, and is it worse for pupils with asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis?

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Mizen ◽  
Jane Lyons ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Damon Berridge ◽  
David Carruthers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Allergic Rhinitis ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
School Level ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Treatment Seeking ◽  
Exam Performance ◽  
Negatively Associated

IntroductionThere is a lack of evidence of the adverse effects of air pollution and pollen on cognition for people with air quality related health conditions. This study explored the effects of air quality and respiratory health conditions on educational attainment for 18,241 pupils across the city of Cardiff, United Kingdom. Objectives and ApproachAnonymised, routinely collected health and education data were linked at the household and school level with modelled high spatial resolution pollution data, and daily pollen measurements using the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank. This created 7 repeated cross-sectional cohorts (2009-2015). Multilevel linear regression analysis examined whether exam performance was associated with health status and/or air quality levels averaged at school and home locations during revision and examination periods. We also investigated the combined effects of air quality and associations with educational attainment for pupils who were treated for asthma and/or Severe Allergic Rhinitis (SAR), and those who were not. ResultsThe cohort contained 9337 males and 8904 female pupils. There were 871 treated for asthma, 2091 for SAR, and 634 treated for both. Asthma was not associated with exam performance (p=0.700). However, SAR was positively associated with exam performance (p 2) was negatively associated with educational attainment (p = 0.002). Other indicators of air quality (pollutants: Ozone, Particulate Matter - PM2.5, and pollen) were not associated with educational attainment (p> 0.05). Exposure to NO2 was negatively associated with educational attainment irrespective of treatment for asthma or SAR. There was no combined effect of air quality on the variation in educational attainment between those who are treated for asthma and/or SAR and those who were not. Conclusion/ImplicationsIrrespective of health status, exposure to NO2 was negatively associated with educational attainment. Treatment seeking behaviour may be a possible explanation for the positive association between SAR and educational attainment. For a more accurate reflection of health status, health outcomes not subject to treatment seeking behaviour should be investigated.

scholarly journals Creating individual level air pollution exposures in an anonymised data safe haven: a platform for evaluating impact on educational attainment

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Mizen ◽  
Jane Lyons ◽  
Ruth Doherty ◽  
Damon Berridge ◽  
Paul Wilkinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Quality Data ◽  
Safe Haven ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Home And School

Introduction There is a lack of evidence on the adverse effects of air pollution on cognition for people with air quality-related health conditions. We propose that educational attainment, as a proxy for cognition, may increase with improved air quality. This study will explore whether asthma and seasonal allergic rhinitis, when exacerbated by acute exposure to air pollution, is associated with educational attainment. Objectives To describe the preparation of individual and household-level linked environmental and health data for analysis within an anonymised safe haven. Also to introduce our statistical analysis plan for our study: COgnition, Respiratory Tract illness and Effects of eXposure (CORTEX). Methods We imported daily air pollution and aeroallergen data, and individual level education data into the SAIL databank, an anonymised safe haven for person-based records. We linked individual-level education, socioeconomic and health data to air quality data for home and school locations, creating tailored exposures for individuals across a city. We developed daily exposure data for all pupils in repeated cross sectional exam cohorts (2009-2015). Conclusion We have used the SAIL databank, an innovative, data safe haven to create individual-level exposures to air pollution and pollen for multiple daily home and school locations. The analysis platform will allow us to evaluate retrospectively the impact of air quality on attainment for multiple cross-sectional cohorts of pupils. Our methods will allow us to distinguish between the pollution impacts on educational attainment for pupils with and without respiratory health conditions. The results from this study will further our understanding of the effects of air quality and respiratory-related health conditions on cognition. Highlights This city-wide study includes longitudinal routinely-recorded educational attainment data for all pupils taking exams over seven years; High spatial resolution air pollution data were linked within a privacy protected databank to obtain individual exposure at multiple daily locations; This study will use health data linked at the individual level to explore associations between air pollution, related morbidity, and educational attainment.

scholarly journals Short-term acute exposure to wildfire smoke and lung function in a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) cohort

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subhabrata Moitra ◽  
Ali Farshchi Tabrizi ◽  
Dina Fathy ◽  
Samineh Kamravaei ◽  
Noushin Miandashti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Lung Function ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Royal Canadian Mounted Police ◽  
Wildfire Smoke ◽  
Peripheral Airways ◽  
Short Term Exposure

ABSTRACTRationaleThe increasing incidence of extreme wildfire is becoming a concern for public health. Although long-term exposure to wildfire smoke is associated with respiratory illnesses, reports on the association between short-term occupational exposure to wildfire smoke and lung function remain scarce.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data of 218 Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers (mean age: 38±9 years) deployed at the Fort McMurray wildfire in 2016. Individual exposure to air pollutants was calculated by integrating the duration of exposure with the air quality parameters obtained from the nearest air quality monitoring station during the phase of deployment. Lung function was measured using spirometry and body plethysmography. Association between exposure and lung function was examined using principal component linear regression analysis, adjusting for potential confounders.ResultsThe participants were predominantly male (71%). Mean forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and residual volume (RV) were 76.5±5.9 and 80.1±19.5 of % predicted. A marginal association was observed between the principal air pollution component and higher RV [β: 1.55; 95%CI: -0.28 to 3.37 per interquartile range change of air pollution index], but not with other lung function indices. The association was significantly higher in participants who were screened within the first three months of deployment [2.80; 0.91 to 4.70] than those screened later [-0.28; -2.58 to 2.03], indicating a more acute effect of air pollution on peripheral airways.ConclusionAcute short-term exposure to wildfire-associated air pollutants may impose subtle but clinically important deleterious respiratory effects, particularly in the peripheral airways.

Leveraging Fog Computing and Deep Learning for Building a Secure Individual Health-Based Decision Support System to Evade Air Pollution

2020 ◽  
pp. 380-406
Author(s):  
Chitra P. ◽  
Abirami S.
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Deep Learning ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Quality Index ◽  
Air Quality Index ◽  
Individual Health

Globalization has led to critical influence of air pollution on individual health status. Insights to the menace of air pollution on individual's health can be achieved through a decision support system, built based on air pollution status and individual's health status. The wearable internet of things (wIoT) devices along with the air pollution monitoring sensors can gather a wide range of data to understand the effect of air pollution on individual's health. The high-level feature extraction capability of deep learning can extract productive patterns from these data to predict the future air quality index (AQI) values along with their amount of risks in every individual. The chapter aims to develop a secure decision support system that analyzes the events adversity by calculating the temporal health index (THI) of the individual and the effective air quality index (AQI) of the location. The proposed architecture utilizes fog paradigm to offload security functions by adopting deep learning algorithms to detect the malicious network traffic patterns from the benign ones.

Study on the Relationship between Indoor Air Quality and Children's Health in Beijing

2013 ◽  
Vol 368-370 ◽  
pp. 525-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Cui ◽  
Jing Chao Xie ◽  
Wen Yue Bian ◽  
Hiroshi Yoshino ◽  
U Yanagi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
General Information ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Children's Health ◽  
Children’S Health

Indoor air quality (IAQ) has been concerned since 1970s in some western countries. Many researchers have studied the effects of air pollution on children's health and evidence suggested that it did contribute significantly to the risk of adverse health in children. Children spend the majority of their time indoors, mostly at home. To study health effects of long-term exposure to indoor air, we conducted a questionnaire survey about indoor environment and children's health status in 2012 on the 4-5 grades children of a primary school in Beijing. The questionnaire was used to collect data on general information of children, living environment, residential equipments and lifestyle and children's health status. We classified the investigated families into several categories according to residential surrounding air pollution, decoration and smoking. Then we observed respiratory symptoms like cough, dyspnea with phlegm, nasal obstruction, asthma and some allergy symptoms in different categories. The results of this survey suggest that indoor air quality is associated with children's health. Morbidity of children's respiratory system symptoms and some allergy symptoms is higher in relatively poor indoor environment.

Impact of SAFAR Air Quality Forecasting Framework and Advisory Services in Reducing the Economic Health Burden of India

2021 ◽  
pp. 211-225
Author(s):  
Suvarna Tikle ◽  
Tanmay Ilame ◽  
Gufran Beig
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Allergic Rhinitis ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Treatment Cost ◽  
Weather Forecasting ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Economic Loss ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Annual Treatment

The economic loss attributable to air pollution and associated disease burden is increasing in polluted megacities all over the globe; Indian megacities are no exception. India has launched the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) framework to provide air pollution health advisories well in advance through various outreach activities. We hereby estimate the economic benefit of SAFAR outreach attributed to prevention by intervention through an early warning based on a probabilistic scenario adopted in this work for the top two megacities of India, namely, Delhi and Pune, for the period 2011-2012 to 2019-2020 and 2014-2015 to 2019-2020 respectively. This study considers the cost-saving in pulmonary (Asthma, COPD, etc.) and other related diseases linked to air pollution. Results show that the annual average total cost of all diseases in Pune and Delhi is INR 9,480 million and INR 76,940 million respectively. We found that the total annual treatment cost of Allergic rhinitis OPD treatment cost was the highest (INR 14,490 Million) followed by asthma (INR 10,010 Million), and COPD (INR 5,140 Million) in Delhi during the year 2012. In Pune, annual treatment costs of Allergic Rhinitis, COPD and Asthma were INR 3,590, 890 and 710 Million respectively during the year 2015. SAFAR framework can make average annual savings of ≃INR 10,960 million in Delhi and ≃INR 1,000 million in Pune in the health sector, even if only 5% of the total affected sick population takes advantage of its services. Looking at the huge economic benefits, it is envisaged that the SAFAR framework model may be replicated in many more cities along with other mitigation measures rigorously.

scholarly journals Cognitive development Respiratory Tract Illness and Effects of eXposure (CORTEX) project: Data processing challenges in combining high spatial resolution pollution level data with individual level health and education data

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Lyons ◽  
Amy Mizen ◽  
Sarah Rodgers ◽  
Damon Berridge ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Education Data ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Ozone Levels ◽  
Daily Time

Background and ObjectivesThere is a lack of evidence of the adverse effects of air pollution and pollen on cognition for people with air quality-related health conditions. The CORTEX project combined routinely collected health and education data, high spatial resolution air pollution modelling, and daily pollen measurements for 18,241 pupils living in Cardiff, UK, between 2009 and 2015, to investigate the acute effects of air quality and respiratory conditions on education attainment. DatasetsAir pollutants PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and ozone levels were modelled for 157,361 home and school locations, anonymised into the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) Databank, and summarised into minimum, average and maximum readings for 4 daily time periods reflecting pupil home/school exposure. Adding a unique Residential Anonymised Linking Field (RALF) allowed linkage of pollution estimates to individual level data. Annual pollution datasets contained 369 columns and 472,083-rows, with one column per location, pollutant, daily time-period and day of year. Dataset transformation produced a 5 column, 3,446,205,900-row matrix per year. Methods and ConclusionsAn algorithm using Structured Query Language (SQL) to manage data held within a relational database management system, was designed to reduce dimensionality from 24 billion to 18,241 rows of data. The algorithm calculated average means for each pollutant (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and ozone levels) over the revision and examination periods, and summarised data into one row per pupil. The algorithm adjusted for weekends, school, and bank holidays, it calculated daily pollutant exposure for each pupil, and successfully linked 95% of pupil pollution exposures to their health and education data.

VALORIZATION OF THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT OF SOUTH SERBIA FROM THE AIR QUALITY ASPECT

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1329-1333
Author(s):  
Miodrag Šmelcerović
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Pollution Sources ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Limit Values ◽  
Cause And Effect ◽  
Sources Of Pollution

The protection of the environment and people’s health from negative influences of the pollution of air as a medium of the environment requires constant observing of the air quality in accordance with international standards, the analysis of emission and imission of polluting matters in the air, and their connection with the sources of pollution. Having in mind the series of laws and delegated legislations which define the field of air pollution, it is necessary to closely observe these long-term processes, discovering cause-and-effect relationships between the activities of anthropogenic sources of emission of polluting matters and the level of air degradation. The relevant evaluation of the air quality of a certain area can be conducted if the level of concentration of polluting matters characteristic for the pollution sources of this area is observed in a longer period of time. The data obtained by the observation of the air pollution are the basis for creation of the recovery program of a certain area. Vranje is a town in South Serbia where there is a bigger number of anthropogenic pollution sources that can significantly diminish the air quality. The cause-and-effect relationship of the anthropogenic sources of pollution is conducted related to the analysis of systematized data which are in the relevant data base of the authorized institution The Institute of Public Health Vranje, for the time period between the year of 2012. and 2017. By the analysis of data of imission concentrations of typical polluting matters, the dominant polluting matters were determined on the territory of the town of Vranje, the ones that are the causers of the biggest air pollution and the risk for people’s health. Analysis of the concentration of soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides indicates their presence in the air of Vranje town area in concentrations that do not exceed the permitted limit values annually. The greatest pollution is caused by the soot content in the air, especially in the winter period when the highest number of days with the values above the limit was registered. By perceiving the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors, it is clear that the concentration of polluting matters can be decreased only by establishing control over anthropogenic sources of pollution, and thus it can be contributed to the improvement of the air quality of this urban environment.

Environmental and Hygienic Assessment of Ambient Air Pollution in Oil-Producing and Oil-Refining Areas of the Republic of Bashkortostan and Population Health Status

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Z.B. Baktybaeva ◽  
R.A. Suleymanov ◽  
T.K. Valeev ◽  
N.R. Rahmatullin ◽  
E.G. Stepanov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Respiratory Diseases ◽  
Ambient Air ◽  
Oil Refining ◽  
Disease Rates ◽  
Total Suspended Particles

Introduction. High density of oil-producing and refining facilities in certain areas of Bashkortostan significantly affects the environment including ambient air quality in residential areas. Materials and methods. We analyzed concentrations of airborne toxicants (sulfur and nitrogen oxides, nitrogen and carbon oxides, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, xylenes, toluene, phenol and total suspended particles) and population health status in the cities of Ufa, Sterlitamak, Salavat, Blagoveshchensk, and the Tuymazinsky District in 2007–2016. Pearson's correlation coefficients (r) were used to establish possible relationships between medico-demographic indicators and air pollution. Results. Republican fuel and energy enterprises contributed the most to local air pollution levels. Gross emissions from such enterprises as Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim and Bashneft-Navoil reached 43.69–49.77 thousand tons of pollutants per year. The levels of some air pollutants exceeded their maximum permissible concentrations. Elevated concentrations of ammonia, total suspended particles, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide were registered most frequently. High rates of congenital abnormalities, respiratory diseases in infants (aged 0-1), general mortality and morbidity of the population were observed in some oil-producing and refining areas. The correlation analysis proved the relationship between the concentration of carbon monoxide and general disease rates in adults based on hospital admissions (r = 0.898), general incidence rates in children (r = 0.957), and blood disease rates in infants (r = 0.821). Respiratory diseases in children correlated with nitrogen dioxide emission levels (r = 0.899). Conclusions. Further development of oil-producing, petrochemical and oil-refining industries should be carried out taking into account socio-economic living conditions of the population.

Improving the Protection of Children Against Air Pollution Threats in Romania � The RokidAIR Project Approach and Future Perspectives

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 841-846
Author(s):  
Hai-Ying Liu ◽  
Daniel Dunea ◽  
Mihaela Oprea ◽  
Tom Savu ◽  
Stefania Iordache
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Health Assessment ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Personal Exposure ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Quality Maps

This paper presents the approach used to develop the information chain required to reach the objectives of the EEA Grants� RokidAIR project in two Romanian cities i.e., Targoviste and Ploiesti. It describes the PM2.5 monitoring infrastructure and architecture to the web-based GIS platform, the early warning system and the decision support system, and finally, the linking of air pollution to health effects in children. In addition, it shows the analysis performance of the designed system to process the collected time series from various data sources using the benzene concentrations monitored in Ploiesti. Moreover, this paper suggests that biomarkers, mobile technologies, and Citizens� Observatories are potential perspectives to improve data coverage by the provision of near-real-time air quality maps, and provide personal exposure and health assessment results, enabling the citizens� engagement and behavioural change. This paper also addresses new fields in nature-based solutions to improve air quality, and studies on air pollution and its mental health effects in the urban areas of Romania.

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