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Atmosphere
Special Issues
Air Pollution and Public Health Effects
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Air Pollution and Public Health Effects

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality and Human Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (12 September 2021) | Viewed by 16313

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Mauro Scungio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, University of Tuscia, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Interests: thermodynamics; energy; environment; air quality; computational fluid dynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

Air pollution can cause side effects ranging from discomfort to severe impacts on health: recent findings showed that polluted air causes one third of deaths attributed to stroke, lung cancer and heart diseases. Pollutants in the air can penetrate into the respiratory and circulatory system, damaging the lungs, heart and brain. Research on outdoor air quality, in cities and rural areas of both developing and developed countries, as well as in indoor environments, can offer valuable insights for those responsible for policymaking and public health planning. This Special Issue aims to present original research articles and reviews in order to provide solid new findings extending the current state of knowledge about air quality and its impact on public health. Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to, the following: (1) evaluating the correlation between exposure to air pollution and health issues, (2) proposing new methodologies to correlate air pollution and health effects, (3) estimating the risk of developing health issues due to poor air quality and/or proposing new risk assessment methodologies, (4) investigating the effectiveness of technical solutions to increase air quality, (5) characterizing sources of air pollutant emissions and their impact on air quality.

Prof. Dr. Mauro Scungio
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • air quality
  • public health
  • air pollution
  • airborne particles
  • indoor air quality
  • outdoor air quality
  • urban pollution
  • particulate matter
  • pollutant dispersion modeling
  • population exposure assessment

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

15 pages, 2633 KiB  
Article
The Health and Economic Benefits of Reduced Residential Solid Fuel Burning on the South African Highveld
by Louisa Farina Lindeque, Roelof Pertus Burger and Stuart John Piketh
Atmosphere 2021, 12(11), 1405; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111405 - 26 Oct 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1935
Abstract
Emissions from residential solid fuel burning in densely populated low-income settlements is a significant source of air pollution over the South African Highveld. The area is densely populated and highly industrialized, resulting in high concentrations of pollutants over the area. Although emissions from [...] Read more.
Emissions from residential solid fuel burning in densely populated low-income settlements is a significant source of air pollution over the South African Highveld. The area is densely populated and highly industrialized, resulting in high concentrations of pollutants over the area. Although emissions from industrial sources are much larger, exposure to household emissions poses the most significant risk to human health. Interventions aimed at reducing solid fuel burning in low-income settlements on the Highveld have the potential to reduce exposure, but quantifying their true impact remains a challenge. We aimed to estimate the health and associated economic benefits of the regional implementation of thermal insulation as intervention measure in low-income settlements to predict the potential impact on the regional scale. We used a land use type regression model to estimate pre-intervention PM2.5 concentrations over the Highveld and then used sampled post-intervention air quality data from a pilot offset programme to relate changes in air quality to changes in avoided premature mortalities. We estimate that the large-scale implementation of this intervention could result in 143 avoided premature mortalities with an estimated economic benefit of just under ZAR (2011) 341.6 million, equivalent to USD (2011) 49.4 million. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution and Public Health Effects)
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25 pages, 8968 KiB  
Article
Short-Term Associations between Morbidity and Air Pollution in Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico
by Rosa Maria Cerón Breton, Julia Céron Breton, María de la Luz Espinosa Fuentes, Jonathan Kahl, Alberto Antonio Espinosa Guzman, Rocío García Martínez, Claudio Guarnaccia, Reyna del Carmen Lara Severino, Evangelina Ramirez Lara and Antonella Bianca Francavilla
Atmosphere 2021, 12(10), 1352; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12101352 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2762
Abstract
Short-term effects of air pollution on the number of hospital admissions in eight municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico, were assessed from 2016 to 2019 using a time-series approach. Air quality data were obtained from the Atmospheric Monitoring System of Nuevo [...] Read more.
Short-term effects of air pollution on the number of hospital admissions in eight municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico, were assessed from 2016 to 2019 using a time-series approach. Air quality data were obtained from the Atmospheric Monitoring System of Nuevo Leon State (SIMA) which belongs to SINAICA (National System of Air Quality Information), providing validated data for this study. Epidemiological data were provided by SINAIS (National System of Health Information), considering admission by all causes and specific causes, gender and different age groups. Guadalupe had the highest mean concentrations for SO2, CO and O3; whereas Santa Catarina showed the highest NO2 concentrations. Escobedo and Garcia registered the highest levels for PM10. Only PM10 and O3 exceeded the permissible maximum values established in Mexican official standards. A basal Poisson model was constructed to assess the association between daily morbidity and air pollutants, from this, a second scenario in which daily mean concentrations of air pollutant criteria increase by 10% was considered. Most of pollutants and municipalities studied showed a great number of associations between an increase of 10% in their current concentrations and morbidity, especially for the age group between 5 and 59 years during cold months, excepting ozone which showed a strongest correlation during summer. Results were comparable to those reported by other authors around the world, however, in spite of relative risk index (RRI) values being low, they are of public concern. This study demonstrated that considering the nature of their activities, economically active population and students, they could be more vulnerable to air pollution effects. Results found in this study can be used by decision makers to develop public policies focused on protecting this specific group of the population in metropolitan areas in Mexico. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution and Public Health Effects)
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13 pages, 1336 KiB  
Article
Mutagenicity in Tradescantia pallida as an Indicator of the Effect of Air Pollution and Human Health
by Kaline de Souza Pereira Godoi, Juliana Caroline Vivian Spósito, Aline do Nascimento Rocha, Liliam Silvia Candido, Caio Augusto Mussury Silva, Ana Paula Lemke, Sandra Verza da Silva, Silvana de Paula Quintão Scalon, Emerson Machado de Carvalho and Rosilda Mara Mussury
Atmosphere 2021, 12(9), 1185; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12091185 - 14 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1979
Abstract
The present study aims to relate the micronucleus frequency in Tradescantia pallida to environmental factors and cardiorespiratory diseases to infer the effect of air pollution. The number of hospitalizations, diseases cases, frequency of micronuclei in plants, environmental variables, altitude, and vehicle traffic in [...] Read more.
The present study aims to relate the micronucleus frequency in Tradescantia pallida to environmental factors and cardiorespiratory diseases to infer the effect of air pollution. The number of hospitalizations, diseases cases, frequency of micronuclei in plants, environmental variables, altitude, and vehicle traffic in cities of Mato Grosso do Sul were evaluated due to the high flow that surrounds agribusiness. The frequency of micronuclei decreased with the increase in relative humidity, while the altitude did not influence the mutagenicity or genotoxicity of the evaluated plants. The municipalities with micronucleus frequencies above 200 had the highest number of vehicle and cardiorespiratory diseases. Biomonitoring data obtained in cities throughout the year indicate that the number of cardiorespiratory diseases was probably due to vehicular pollution, which is evidenced by the increased frequency of micronuclei in T. pallida. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution and Public Health Effects)
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10 pages, 1638 KiB  
Article
The Effects of Air Quality on Hospital Admissions for Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, 2013–2015
by Karyn Morrissey, Ivy Chung, Andrew Morse, Suhanya Parthasarath, Margaret M. Roebuck, Maw Pin Tan, Amanda Wood, Pooi-Fong Wong and Simon P. Frostick
Atmosphere 2021, 12(8), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12081060 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2538
Abstract
This study assesses the impact of a decrease in air quality and the risk of hospital admissions to a public hospital for chronic respiratory diseases for residents of Petaling Jaya, a city in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area in Malaysia. Data on hospital [...] Read more.
This study assesses the impact of a decrease in air quality and the risk of hospital admissions to a public hospital for chronic respiratory diseases for residents of Petaling Jaya, a city in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area in Malaysia. Data on hospital admissions for asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, weather conditions and the Malaysian Air Pollution Index, a composite indicator of air quality, were collated. An unconstrained distributed lag model to obtain risk of hospitalization for a 10 μg/m3 increase in the API. The lag cumulative effect for a 10 μg/m3 increase in the API was calculated to test for harvesting in the short term. Findings indicate that after an initial decrease in admissions (days 3 and 4), admissions increased again at day 7 and 8 and this relationship was significant. We therefore conclude that a 10 μg/m3 increase has a greater effect on admissions for respiratory health in the short term than a harvesting effect alone would suggest. These results suggest that while air quality is improving in the Greater Kuala Lumpur area, no level of air pollution can be deemed safe. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution and Public Health Effects)
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Review

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22 pages, 2141 KiB  
Review
Air Pollution and the Airways: Lessons from a Century of Human Urbanization
by Janne Goossens, Anne-Charlotte Jonckheere, Lieven J. Dupont and Dominique M. A. Bullens
Atmosphere 2021, 12(7), 898; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12070898 - 11 Jul 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5246
Abstract
Since the industrial revolution, air pollution has become a major problem causing several health problems involving the airways as well as the cardiovascular, reproductive, or neurological system. According to the WHO, about 3.6 million deaths every year are related to inhalation of polluted [...] Read more.
Since the industrial revolution, air pollution has become a major problem causing several health problems involving the airways as well as the cardiovascular, reproductive, or neurological system. According to the WHO, about 3.6 million deaths every year are related to inhalation of polluted air, specifically due to pulmonary diseases. Polluted air first encounters the airways, which are a major human defense mechanism to reduce the risk of this aggressor. Air pollution consists of a mixture of potentially harmful compounds such as particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and heavy metals, each having its own effects on the human body. In the last decades, a lot of research investigating the underlying risks and effects of air pollution and/or its specific compounds on the airways, has been performed, involving both in vivo and in vitro experiments. The goal of this review is to give an overview of the recent data on the effects of air pollution on healthy and diseased airways or models of airway disease, such as asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Therefore, we focused on studies involving pollution and airway symptoms and/or damage both in mice and humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution and Public Health Effects)
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