Two Decades of Air Pollution Health Risk Assessment: Insights From the Use of WHO's AirQ and AirQ+ Tools.

Objectives: We evaluated studies that used the World Health Organization's (WHO) AirQ and AirQ+ tools for air pollution (AP) health risk assessment (HRA) and provided best practice suggestions for future assessments.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive review of studies using WHO's AirQ and AirQ+ tools, searching several databases for relevant articles, reports, and theses from inception to Dec 31, 2022.

Results: We identified 286 studies that met our criteria.

Competencies for Transformational Leadership in Public Health-An International Delphi Consensus Study.

This Delphi study intended to develop competencies for transformational leadership in public health, including behavioral descriptions (descriptors) tailored to individuals and their contexts. The study involved five rounds, including online "e-Delphi" consultations and real-time online workshops with experts from diverse sectors. Relevant competencies were identified through a literature review, and experts rated, ranked, rephrased, and proposed descriptors.

Stringency of COVID-19 Containment Response Policies and Air Quality Changes: A Global Analysis across 1851 Cities.

The COVID-19 containment response policies (CRPs) had a major impact on air quality (AQ). These CRPs have been time-varying and location-specific. So far, despite having numerous studies on the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on AQ, a knowledge gap remains on the association between stringency of CRPs and AQ changes across the world, regions, nations, and cities.

Evidence From the Decade of Action for Road Safety: A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Interventions in Low and Middle-Income Countries.

To evaluate the effectiveness of road safety interventions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), considering the principles of systems theory presented in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. We conducted a systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines. We searched for original research studies published during 2011-2019 in the following databases: Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane library, Global Health Library, ProQuest and TRID.

Residential air pollution does not modify the positive association between physical activity and lung function in current smokers in the ECRHS study.

Background: Very few studies have examined whether a long-term beneficial effect of physical activity on lung function can be influenced by living in polluted urban areas.

Objective: We assessed whether annual average residential concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO) and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters < 2.5 μm (PM) and <10 μm (PM) modify the effect of physical activity on lung function among never- (N = 2801) and current (N = 1719) smokers in the multi-center European Community Respiratory Health Survey.

Is there a gender-specific association between asthma and carotid intima media thickness in Swiss adolescents?

Unlabelled: Respiratory diseases are associated with increased cardiovascular risk in adults, but little is known on the early impact on the vasculature in youth. The SAPALDIA Youth study, the offspring study of the Swiss Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Disease In Adults (SAPALDIA), investigated the association between physician-diagnosed asthma status and common carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT). Offspring underwent standardized clinical protocols and provided information on early life factors, health, and lifestyle.

A joint ERS/ATS policy statement: what constitutes an adverse health effect of air pollution? An analytical framework.

The American Thoracic Society has previously published statements on what constitutes an adverse effect on health of air pollution in 1985 and 2000. We set out to update and broaden these past statements that focused primarily on effects on the respiratory system. Since then, many studies have documented effects of air pollution on other organ systems, such as on the cardiovascular and central nervous systems.

Public health impacts of city policies to reduce climate change: findings from the URGENCHE EU-China project.

Background: Climate change is a global threat to health and wellbeing. Here we provide findings of an international research project investigating the health and wellbeing impacts of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in urban environments.

Methods: Five European and two Chinese city authorities and partner academic organisations formed the project consortium.

Infectious diseases are associated with carotid intima media thickness in adolescence.

Objective: Inflammatory risk factors in childhood, e.g. obesity, impact on carotid artery intima media thickness (CIMT), an early indicator of atherosclerosis.

Asthma, COPD and overlap syndrome: a longitudinal study in young European adults.

We compared risk factors and clinical characteristics, 9-year lung function change and hospitalisation risk across subjects with the asthma-chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) overlap syndrome (ACOS), asthma or COPD alone, or none of these diseases.Participants in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey in 1991-1993 (aged 20-44 years) and 1999-2001 were included. Chronic airflow obstruction was defined as pre-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1)/forced vital capacity View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Spirometer Replacement and Serial Lung Function Measurements in Population Studies: Results From the SAPALDIA Study.

The Swiss Cohort Study on Air Pollution and Lung and Heart Disease in Adults (SAPALDIA), a population cohort study, used heated-wire spirometers in 1991 and 2002 and then ultrasonic spirometers in 2010 revealing measurement bias in healthy never smokers. To provide a practical method to control for measurement bias given the replacement of spirometer in long-term population studies, we built spirometer-specific reference equations from healthy never smokers participating in 1991, 2002, and 2010 to derive individualized corrections terms. We compared yearly lung function decline without corrections terms with fixed terms that were obtained from a quasi-experimental study and individualized terms.

Early detection of subjects at risk for vascular remodelling - results from the Swiss population-based study SAPALDIA.

Questions Under Study: As the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) increases globally, its prevention and risk assessment becomes ever more important. We thus investigated the longitudinal association of the cardiovascular risk scores in the population-based cohort SAPALDIA with carotid intima media thickening (CIMT), an indicator of sub-clinical disease, and CVD incidence.

Methods: In 2,832 SAPALDIA participants, the Swiss and ESC heart risk score (AGLA, SCORE) were calculated based on 2001 data and CIMT was measured in 2010/11.

Atherogenesis in youth--early consequence of adolescent smoking.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a prevalent risk behavior among adolescents and tracks into adulthood. Little is known on the early impact of smoking on the vasculature in adolescence, although smoking is considered highly atherogenic in adults. We investigated the association between active smoking and Carotid artery Intima Media Thickness (CIMT), an early indicator of atherosclerosis.

Role of highway traffic on spatial and temporal distributions of air pollutants in a Swiss Alpine valley.

Traffic-related air pollutants show high spatial variability near roads, posing a challenge to adequately assess exposures. Recent modeling approaches (e.g.

The influence of sensitisation to pollens and moulds on seasonal variations in asthma attacks.

No large study has described the seasonal variation in asthma attacks in population-based asthmatics in whom sensitisation to allergen has been measured. 2,637 young adults with asthma living in 15 countries reported the months in which they usually had attacks of asthma and had skin-prick tests performed. Differences in seasonal patterns by sensitisation status were assessed using generalised estimating equations.

Birth weight and carotid artery intima-media thickness.

Objectives: To determine the association between birth weight and carotid artery intima-media thickness (CIMT), a measure of atherogenesis, in a population of 11-year-old children.

Study Design: CIMT measured by high-resolution ultrasound, and birth registry data were available for 670 children of the Southern California Children's Health Study. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to investigate the association between birth weight and CIMT, with adjustment for child's health status and lifestyle, pregnancy information, and parental health.

Gender differences in prevalence, diagnosis and incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma: a population-based cohort.

Background: Although women with severe non-allergic asthma may represent a substantial proportion of adults with asthma in clinical practice, gender differences in the incidence of allergic and non-allergic asthma have been little investigated in the general population.

Methods: Gender differences in asthma prevalence, reported diagnosis and incidence were investigated in 9091 men and women randomly selected from the general population and followed up after 8-10 years as part of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. The protocol included assessment of bronchial responsiveness, IgE specific to four common allergens and skin tests to nine allergens.

Risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a European cohort of young adults.

Rationale: Few studies have investigated the factors associated with the early inception of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Objectives: We investigated COPD risk factors in an international cohort of young adults using different spirometric definitions of the disease.

Methods: We studied 4,636 subjects without asthma who had prebronchodilator FEV(1)/FVC measured in the European Community Respiratory Health Survey both in 1991 to 1993 (when they were 20-44 yr old) and in 1999 to 2002.

An official American Thoracic Society public policy statement: Novel risk factors and the global burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Rationale: Although cigarette smoking is the most important cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a substantial proportion of COPD cases cannot be explained by smoking alone.

Objectives: To evaluate the risk factors for COPD besides personal cigarette smoking.

Methods: We constituted an ad hoc subcommittee of the American Thoracic Society Environmental and Occupational Health Assembly.

Effect of fireworks events on urban background trace metal aerosol concentrations: is the cocktail worth the show?

We report on the effect of a major firework event on urban background atmospheric PM(2.5) chemistry, using 24-h data collected over 8 weeks at two sites in Girona, Spain. The firework pollution episode (Sant Joan fiesta on 23rd June 2008) measured in city centre parkland increased local background PM(2.

Risk factors of new-onset asthma in adults: a population-based international cohort study.

Background: The occurrence of new-onset asthma during adulthood is common, but there is insufficient understanding of its determinants including the role of atopy.

Objective: To assess the risk factors for the development of new-onset asthma in middle-aged adults and to compare them according to atopy.

Methods: A longitudinal analysis of 9175 young adults who participated in two surveys of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey (ECRHS) conducted 9 years apart.

Intake fraction distributions for indoor VOC sources in five European cities.

Unlabelled: Distributions of intake fractions for indoor air emissions were estimated for five cities in the EXPOLIS study (Athens, Basel, Helsinki, Oxford, and Prague). Intake fractions are an expression of the mass of a pollutant that reaches a target compared with the mass emitted by a source. They facilitate direct comparisons of the relative impact of different sources on individual or population exposure and dose.

A predictive model for the home outdoor exposure to nitrogen dioxide.

The aim of this study is to find and test a predictive model that could be suitable to estimate the outdoor NO(2) concentrations at individual level, by integrating ecological measurements recorded by local monitoring stations with individual information collected by a questionnaire. For this purpose, the data from the Italian centres of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II (ECRHS II) has been used. Outdoor NO(2) concentrations were measured using NO(2) passive sampling tubes (PS-NO(2)), exposed outdoor for 14 days, between January 2001 and January 2003.