scholarly journals Effects of Air Pollutants on Airway Diseases

Author(s):  
Yun-Gi Lee ◽  
Pureun-Haneul Lee ◽  
Seon-Muk Choi ◽  
Min-Hyeok An ◽  
An-Soo Jang

Air pollutants include toxic particles and gases emitted in large quantities from many different combustible materials. They also include particulate matter (PM) and ozone, and biological contaminants, such as viruses and bacteria, which can penetrate the human airway and reach the bloodstream, triggering airway inflammation, dysfunction, and fibrosis. Pollutants that accumulate in the lungs exacerbate symptoms of respiratory diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Asthma, a heterogeneous disease with complex pathological mechanisms, is characterized by particular symptoms such as shortness of breath, a tight chest, coughing, and wheezing. Patients with COPD often experience exacerbations and worsening of symptoms, which may result in hospitalization and disease progression. PM varies in terms of composition, and can include solid and liquid particles of various sizes. PM concentrations are higher in urban areas. Ozone is one of the most toxic photochemical air pollutants. In general, air pollution decreases quality of life and life expectancy. It exacerbates acute and chronic respiratory symptoms in patients with chronic airway diseases, and increases the morbidity and risk of hospitalization associated with respiratory diseases. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Therefore, we reviewed the impact of air pollutants on airway diseases such as asthma and COPD, focusing on their underlying mechanisms.

Author(s):  
Gavin H. West ◽  
Laura S. Welch

This chapter describes the hazards for construction workers, with a particular focus on injuries as well as exposures to hazardous chemicals and dusts. A section describes hazardous exposures to lead and other heavy metals. Another section describes noise exposure. The impact of musculoskeletal disorders among construction workers is then discussed. A section on respiratory diseases focuses on asbestosis, silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma. Exposures known to cause dermatitis and cancer are reviewed. There is a discussion of engineered nanomaterials as a potential emerging hazard. Various approaches to prevention and control, including regulations and health services, are described.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 175346662096303
Author(s):  
Hayoung Choi ◽  
Hyun Lee ◽  
Jiin Ryu ◽  
Sung Jun Chung ◽  
Dong Won Park ◽  
...  

Background: Long-term corticosteroid (CS) use is associated with increased mortality in patients with asthma, and comorbid bronchiectasis is also associated with frequent asthma exacerbation and increased healthcare use. However, there is limited information on whether bronchiectasis further increases mortality in patients with CS-dependent asthma. This study examined the impact of bronchiectasis on mortality in patients with CS-dependent asthma. Methods: A retrospective cohort of patients with CS-dependent asthma ⩾18 years old was established using records from the Korean National Health Insurance Service database from 2005 to 2015. Patients with CS-dependent asthma with and without bronchiectasis were matched by age, sex, type of insurance, and Charlson comorbidity index. We evaluated the hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality in patients with bronchiectasis compared with those without bronchiectasis. Results: The study cohort included 754 patients with CS-dependent asthma with bronchiectasis and 3016 patients with CS-dependent asthma without bronchiectasis. Patients with CS-dependent asthma with bronchiectasis had a higher all-cause mortality than those without bronchiectasis (8429/100,000 versus 6962/100,000 person-years, p < 0.001). The adjusted HR for mortality in patients with CS-dependent asthma with bronchiectasis relative to those without bronchiectasis was 1.33 (95% confidence interval, 1.18–1.50), and the association was primarily significant for respiratory diseases (subdistribution HR = 1.65, 95% confidence interval, 1.42–1.92). Conclusions: Bronchiectasis further increases all-cause mortality in patients with CS-dependent asthma, a trend that was especially associated with respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Strategies to improve treatment outcomes in patients with CS-dependent asthma with bronchiectasis are urgently needed to improve long-term survival. The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (137) ◽  
pp. 498-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nienke Nakken ◽  
Daisy J.A. Janssen ◽  
Esther H.A. van den Bogaart ◽  
Emiel F.M. Wouters ◽  
Frits M.E. Franssen ◽  
...  

The burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) on society is increasing. Healthcare systems should support patients with COPD in achieving an optimal quality of life, while limiting the costs of care. As a consequence, a shift from hospital care to home care seems inevitable. Therefore, patients will have to rely to a greater extent on informal caregivers. Patients with COPD as well as their informal caregivers are confronted with multiple limitations in activities of daily living. The presence of an informal caregiver is important to provide practical help and emotional support. However, caregivers can be overprotective, which can make patients more dependent. Informal caregiving may lead to symptoms of anxiety, depression, social isolation and a changed relationship with the patient. The caregivers' subjective burden is a major determinant of the impact of caregiving. Therefore, the caregiver's perception of the patient's health is an important factor. This article reviews the current knowledge about these informal caregivers of patients with COPD, the impact of COPD on their lives and their perception of the patient's health status.


Author(s):  
Kavita S. Joshi ◽  
Prasad R. Amrale ◽  
Sagar S. Ahire

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients often present considerable individual medical burden in their symptoms, limitations, and well-being that complicate medical treatment. Quality of life (QOL) is an important aspect for measuring the impact of chronic diseases. HRQOL measurement facilitates the evaluation of efficacy of medical interventions and also the detection of groups at risk of psychological or behavioural problems.Methods: COPD patient attending the OPD/IPD are screened as per inclusion and exclusion criteria. After obtaining a written informed consent of eligible patient, they were enrolled in the study. QOL of patient is assessed based on a set of questionnaire i.e. COPD Assessment Test™ (CAT). The questionnaire was translated to Hindi and Marathi. Socio demographic variable like age, sex, education occupation and income are also collected. All 8 questions related to health-improvement and management of COPD. CAT scores were given to each question according to the level of impact.Results: In the total score of CAT we observed that there were 2.04% patients with very good QOL, 25.51% with good QOL, 61.22% with moderate QOL and 11.22% with poor QOL.Conclusions: We conclude that the quality of life is moderate in larger number of patient’s population. The most affected domain was the patient’s energy level. The patients enrolled had COPD from long period of time which might have affected their answer because they have been habitual with the difficulties arising from COPD.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yichen Chen ◽  
Xiaopan Li ◽  
Hanyi Chen ◽  
Lianghong Sun ◽  
Tao Lin ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Air pollution is a severe and dangerous public health problem. However, the effect of ambient gaseous air pollution exposure on years of life lost (YLL) attributable to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) mortality has not been quantitatively verified.Methods: We collected the data of 12,781 COPD deaths and ambient gaseous air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Carbon monoxide (CO), and ozone (O3), during the years 2013-2019 in the Shanghai Pudong New Area (PNA). Then we performed a time-stratified case-crossover study combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) to estimate the impact of those air pollutants on daily COPD deaths counts and YLL. The confounders including long-term trend and meteorological factors have been controlled for, and effects of age and educational attainment as effect modifiers have also been evaluated.Results: During the 2013-2019 time frame, increases of 10μg/m3 in SO2 and NO2 were associated with a 4.93% (95% CI: 1.47%, 8.50%) and 1.47% (95% CI: 0.14%, 2.82%) in daily COPD death counts at lag0-1day, respectively, a 2.52 (95% CI: 0.31, 4.72) YLL increase and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.01, 1.68) YLL increase at lag0-1day, respectively. A 1mg/m3 increase in CO was associated with a 9.46% (95% CI: 0.40%, 19.35%) at lag0 increase in daily COPD death counts. No significant impact from O3 on both daily COPD deaths counts and YLL (P>0.05). The impact of gaseous air pollutants on the daily COPD death count and YLL were significant in populations of older adults and the lower educated population, while an insignificant effect was observed in the younger population and higher educated population. The YLL due to COPD related to SO2 and CO for the lower educated population was significantly higher than those for the higher educated population.Conclusion: Reducing specific gaseous air pollutants will help to control COPD deaths and improve the population’s life expectancy.


CHEST Journal ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 142 (4) ◽  
pp. 728A
Author(s):  
Drosos Tsavlis ◽  
Mamas Theodorou ◽  
Anna Tzoumaka ◽  
Hellie Lithoxopoulou ◽  
Panagiotis Minogiannis ◽  
...  

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