Self-reported prevalence of asthma symptoms in adults living in a port city.

Air pollution is a worldwide health problem, and exposure to the pollution can cause damage to the human body, especially to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Asthma is the third most common chronic disease in Brazil, presenting high prevalence in some areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the self-report the prevalence of asthma symptoms in Santos city, Brazil, and its associated factors in the adult population (between 18 and 59 years old).

Validation of physician certified verbal autopsy using conventional autopsy: a large study of adult non-external causes of death in a metropolitan area in Brazil.

Background: Reliable mortality data are essential for the development of public health policies. In Brazil, although there is a well-consolidated universal system for mortality data, the quality of information on causes of death (CoD) is not even among Brazilian regions, with a high proportion of ill-defined CoD. Verbal autopsy (VA) is an alternative to improve mortality data.

Air pollution influence on serum inflammatory interleukins: A prospective study in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematous patients.

Objective: To assess the effect of individual exposure, in real-time, to traffic-related pollutants on serum interleukin levels of childhood-onset lupus erythematous systemic (c-SLE) patients.

Methods: A longitudinal and observational design was conducted in 12 repeated measures of serum samples and clinical evaluations (totaling 108 measurements) of c-SLE patients over 30 consecutive months. Real-time, individual exposure to fine particles (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO) was measured with portable monitors.

Validation of SmartVA using conventional autopsy: A study of adult deaths in Brazil.

Background: Accurate cause of death data are essential to guide health policy. However, mortality surveillance is limited in many low-income countries. In such settings, verbal autopsy (VA) is increasingly used to provide population-level cause of death data.

Influence of air pollution on renal activity in patients with childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus.

Background: Childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) is an autoimmune and multifactorial disease that can affect the renal system. Exposure to air pollution can trigger systemic inflammation in cSLE patients and increase risk of disease activity. We evaluated effects of individual real-time exposure to air pollutants on renal activity in cSLE patients using the Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index 2000.

Importance of epidemiological surveillance of leprosy: analysis of the occurrence of leprosy in intra-domiciliary contacts in a capital in the Brazilian northeast region.

Introduction: Intra-domiciliary contacts are a group with the highest risk of developing leprosy.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of intra-domiciliary contacts of new leprosy cases was conducted. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed.

Relationship between air pollution and hospitalizations for congestive heart failure in elderly people in the city of São Paulo.

To evaluate the effects of air pollutants on hospitalizations of elderly people for congestive heart failure (CHF) in the city of São Paulo, stratified by sex, exploring lag structures, from 2000 to 2013. Ecological time series study using information on hospitalization of elderly patients for CHF (ICD-10th: I50) obtained from DATASUS for the city of São Paulo. Information on O, PM, NO, SO, CO, temperature and humidity was obtained from CETESB.

Use of health services by the population living in contaminated areas in the region of the Santos and São Vicente estuarine system, Brazil.

To relate the socio-demographic profile with access to health services of the population living in environmentally degraded areas in an estuary region. A sectional field study of 8819 people, evaluating three contaminated areas of São Vicente. Households were divided by studied area.

Evaluation of peak expiratory flow in adolescents and its association with inhalable particulate in a Brazilian medium-sized city.

Introduction: High particulate matter (PM10) concentrations are associated with increased incidence of respiratory symptoms and decreased lung function. This study evaluates the air pollution effects in children's and adolescents' lung function using peak expiratory flow (PEF) measurements over a given period, in an area exposed to industrial emissions.

Methodology: This was a panel study.

Influence of air pollution on airway inflammation and disease activity in childhood-systemic lupus erythematosus.

Exposure to fine particles may trigger pulmonary inflammation/systemic inflammation. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between daily individual exposure to air pollutants and airway inflammation and disease activity in childhood-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (cSLE) patients. A longitudinal panel study was carried out in 108 consecutive appointments with cSLE patients without respiratory diseases.

Air pollution and low birth weight in an industrialized city in Southeastern Brazil, 2003-2006.

Introduction:: Birth weight is an important indicator of several conditions that manifest earlier (as fetal and neonatal mortality and morbidity, inhibited growth and cognitive development) and later in life such as chronic diseases. Air pollution has been associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Objective:: Retrospective cohort study investigated the association between low birth weight (LBW) and maternal exposure to air pollutants in Volta Redonda city, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2003 to 2006.

Dental enamel as biomarker for environmental contaminants in relevant industrialized estuary areas in São Paulo, Brazil.

Heavy metal contamination is a long-standing and very well-known public health problem, and its exposure can cause damage to several organs of human body, especially on the central nervous system of young children and teenagers. The aim of this article is to evaluate lead, cadmium, and manganese contamination in 125 children from 6 to 13 years old living in contaminated areas during the period from 2006 to 2009 (São Vicente, Cubatão Downtown, Bertioga and Cubatão Pilões/Água Fria). This estuary area is the most important example of environmental degradation by chemicals from industrial sources.

Short-term effects of fine particulate matter pollution on daily health events in Latin America: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: Ambient air pollution is among the leading risks for health worldwide and by 2050 will largely overcome deaths due to unsafe sanitation and malaria, but local evidence from Latin America (LA) is scarce. We aimed to summarize the effect of short-term exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM) on morbidity and mortality in Latin America and evaluate evidence coverage and quality, using systematic review and meta-analysis.

Methods: The comprehensive search (six online databases and hand-searching) identified studies investigating the short-term associations between PM and daily health events in LA.

Association between Traffic Air Pollution and Reduced Forced Vital Capacity: A Study Using Personal Monitors for Outdoor Workers.

Background: The effects of outdoor air pollution on lung function in adults are still controversial.

Objective: Evaluate the effects of exposure to different levels of traffic-generated PM2.5 on workers' lung functions in São Paulo, Brazil.

Seven-day cumulative effects of air pollutants increase respiratory ER visits up to threefold.

Objective: Children are especially vulnerable to respiratory injury induced by exposure to air pollutants. In the present study, we investigate periods of up to 7 days, and evaluate the lagged effects of exposure to air pollutants on the daily number of children and adolescents visiting the emergency room (ER) for the treatment of lower respiratory obstructive diseases (LROD), in the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods: Daily records of LROD-related ER visits by children and adolescents under the age of 19, from January 2000 to December 2007 (2,922 days) were included in the study.

Influence of environmental contamination on pregnancy outcomes.

This study aims to compare pregnancy outcomes in four contaminated areas to those observed in a non-contaminated area of similar socioeconomic status. A cross-sectional study was carried out. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was administered to population-based samples of 788-920 families in each of the five studied areas.

Air pollution and children's health: sickle cell disease.

The hallmarks of sickle cell disease are anemia and vasculopathy. The aim of this study was to assess the association between air pollution and children's emergency room visits of sickle cell patients. We adopted a case-crossover design.

The effect of air pollution on pneumonia-related emergency department visits in a region of extensive sugar cane plantations: a 30-month time-series study.

Background: In Brazil, many cities are surrounded by sugar cane plantations, and when these plantations are burnt prior to harvesting, millions of people are exposed to the smoke from these fires from May to November every year.

Methods: A daily time-series regression analysis was conducted in a city located in the sugar cane plantation region of São Paulo State, Brazil, between 1 February 2005 and 31 July 2007. The percentage increase in the number of pneumonia-related emergency department visits (PEDV) associated with a 10 µg/m(3) increase in the total suspended particles (TSP) concentration was measured, including any effects that were delayed for up to 6 days.

The relationship between low birth weight and exposure to inhalable particulate matter.

Atmospheric pollution is a global public health problem. The adverse effects of air pollution are strongly associated with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and, to a lesser extent, with adverse pregnancy outcomes. This study analyzes the relationship between exposure to PM10 and low birth weight in the city of Santo André, São Paulo State, Brazil.

Air pollution and the respiratory system.

Over the past 250 years-since the Industrial Revolution accelerated the process of pollutant emission, which, until then, had been limited to the domestic use of fuels (mineral and vegetal) and intermittent volcanic emissions-air pollution has been present in various scenarios. Today, approximately 50% of the people in the world live in cities and urban areas and are exposed to progressively higher levels of air pollutants. This is a non-systematic review on the different types and sources of air pollutants, as well as on the respiratory effects attributed to exposure to such contaminants.

Burnt sugarcane harvesting: particulate matter exposure and the effects on lung function, oxidative stress, and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene.

Non-mechanised sugarcane harvesting preceded by burning exposes workers and the people of neighbouring towns to high concentrations of pollutants. This study was aimed to evaluate the respiratory symptoms, lung function and oxidative stress markers in sugarcane workers and the residents of Mendonça, an agricultural town in Brazil, during the non-harvesting and harvesting periods and to assess the population and individual exposures to fine particulate matter (PM(2.5)).

Pregnancy outcomes in contaminated areas, SP, Brazil.

Objective: Estimate and compare prevalence of events related to pregnancy (pregnancy, low birth weight, premature delivery, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, congenital malformation, and multiple births) in populations exposed and non-exposed to environmental contaminants in Santos and São Vicente Estuary.

Methods: This study was part of a large project financed by CNPq, which aimed to estimate health effects associated with environmental area, contaminants exposure among individuals of the Baixada Santista region. This cross-sectional study evaluated two neighborhoods of São Vicente near a contaminated area, and one neighborhood of Bertioga, the control area.

[Air pollution and pediatric hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases in Cubatão, São Paulo State, Brazil, from 1997 to 2004].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of air pollutants and their lag structures in relation to respiratory morbidity among children and adolescents in the city of Cubatão, São Paulo State, Brazil, from 1997 to 2004. An ecological time-series study was performed, analyzing respiratory hospital admissions of children and adolescents in National Health System hospitals in Cubatão. Generalized linear Poisson regression models were used to control for seasonality, temperature, humidity, and short-term trends.

A review of low-level air pollution and adverse effects on human health: implications for epidemiological studies and public policy.

The aim of this study was to review original scientific articles describing the relationship between atmospheric pollution and damage to human health. We also aimed to determine which of these studies mentioned public policy issues. Original articles relating to atmospheric pollution and human health published between 1995 and 2009 were retrieved from the PubMed database and analyzed.

Impact of outdoor biomass air pollution on hypertension hospital admissions.

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the association between the total suspended particles (TSP) generated from burning sugar cane plantations and the incidence of hospital admissions from hypertension in the city of Araraquara.

Methods: The study was an ecological time-series study. Total daily records of hypertension (ICD 10th I10-15) were obtained from admitted patients of all ages in a hospital in Araraquara, São Paulo State, Brazil, from 23 March 2003 to 27 July 2004.