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A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2020) | Viewed by 12456

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Dr. Chantel Sloan-Aagard

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Department of Public Health, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA
Interests: air pollution; respiratory health; children health; viral infections
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air pollution and climate change are among the top public health crises of our era. Air pollution claims over four million lives each year, while climate change is projected to increase mortality in warm, high-poverty areas by as much as 12%. Air pollution and climate change are both driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, have wide-ranging effects, and are strongly associated with respiratory health outcomes such as pneumonia, bronchiolitis, asthma, and COPD.

The world’s most vulnerable populations are disproportionately impacted by air pollution and climate change. Persons living in poverty and young children are especially prone to exposure to environmental insults and their resulting respiratory health problems. However, those exposures vary in chemical composition, level of impact, and source. Our research efforts must therefore be inclusive and diverse if they are going to inform positive interventions and advocacy. These issues are complex, but not hopelessly intractable.

For this Special Issue, we invite collaborative, interdisciplinary, and innovative work that seeks to understand the effects of a changing climate and air pollution on the respiratory health of individuals, families, and communities. We also invite research that addresses the perceptions, cultures, policies, and social structures that influence behaviors related to fossil-fuel emissions. Continued and concerted efforts from multiple scientific perspectives are necessary to reduce the incidence and prevalence of poor respiratory health outcomes in the presence of growing environmental threats.

We hope you will consider contributing to this Special Issue.

Dr. Chantel Sloan
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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 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 2500 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.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

15 pages, 1871 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Matter and Hospitalizations for Acute Lower Respiratory Infection in Korean Children: A Time-Series Study in Seven Metropolitan Cities

by Jongmin Oh, Changwoo Han, Dong-Wook Lee, Yoonyoung Jang, Yoon-Jung Choi, Hyun Joo Bae, Soontae Kim, Eunhee Ha, Yun-Chul Hong and Youn-Hee Lim

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(1), 144; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18010144 - 28 Dec 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2358

Abstract

Although several studies have evaluated the association between fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI) in children, their results were inconsistent Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the association between short-term exposure to PM_2.5 and ALRI hospitalizations in children (0–5 years) living in seven metropolitan cities of Korea. The ALRI hospitalization data of children living in seven metropolitan cities of Korea from 2008 to 2016 was acquired from a customized database constructed based on National Health Insurance data. The time-series data in a generalized additive model were used to evaluate the relationship between ALRI hospitalization and 7-day moving average PM_2.5 exposure after adjusting for apparent temperature, day of the week, and time trends. We performed a meta-analysis using a two-stage design method. The estimates for each city were pooled to generate an average estimate of the associations. The average PM_2.5 concentration in 7 metropolitan cities was 29.0 μg/m³ and a total of 713,588 ALRI hospitalizations were observed during the 9-year study period. A strong linear association was observed between PM_2.5 and ALRI hospitalization. A 10 μg/m³ increase in the 7-day moving average of PM_2.5 was associated with a 1.20% (95% CI: 0.71, 1.71) increase in ALRI hospitalization. While we found similar estimates in a stratified analysis by sex, we observed stronger estimates of the association in the warm season (1.71%, 95% CI: 0.94, 2.48) compared to the cold season (0.31%, 95% CI: −0.51, 1.13). In the two-pollutant models, the PM_2.5 effect adjusted by SO₂ was attenuated more than in the single pollutant model. Our results suggest a positive association between PM_2.5 exposure and ALRI hospitalizations in Korean children, particularly in the warm season. The children need to refrain from going out on days when PM_2.5 is high. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution, Climate Change and Respiratory Health)

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18 pages, 1021 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Feasibility of Indonesia Family Life Survey Wave 5 (IFLS5) Data for Air Pollution Exposure–Response Study in Indonesia

by Dwi Agustian, Cut Novianti Rachmi, Noormarina Indraswari, Anna Molter, Melanie Carder, Fedri Ruluwedrata Rinawan, Martie van Tongeren and Driejana Driejana

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(24), 9508; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249508 - 18 Dec 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3192

Abstract

Background: Air pollution is an important risk factor for the disease burden; however there is limited evidence in Indonesia on the effect of air pollution on health, due to lack of exposure and health outcome data. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential use of the IFLS data for response part of urban-scale air pollution exposure–health response studies. Methods: Relevant variables were extracted based on IFLS5 documentation review. Analysis of the spatial distribution of respondent, data completeness, prevalence of relevant health outcomes, and consistency or agreement evaluation between similar variables were performed. Power for ideal sample size was estimated. Results: There were 58,304 respondents across 23 provinces, with the highest density in Jakarta (750/district). Among chronic conditions, hypertension had the highest prevalence (15–25%) with data completeness of 79–83%. Consistency among self-reported health outcome variables was 90–99%, while that with objective measurements was 42–70%. The estimated statistical power for studying air pollution effect on hypertension (prevalence = 17%) in Jakarta was approximately 0.6 (α = 0.1). Conclusions: IFLS5 data has potential use for epidemiological study of air pollution and health outcomes such as hypertension, to be coupled with high quality urban-scale air pollution exposure estimates, particularly in Jakarta. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution, Climate Change and Respiratory Health)

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15 pages, 2384 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of DNA Damage and Oxidative Stress in Human Bronchial Epithelial Cells Exposed to PM_2.5 from Beijing, China, in Winter

by Bing-Yu Niu, Wen-Ke Li, Jiang-Shuai Li, Qi-Hao Hong, Sara Khodahemmati, Jing-Feng Gao and Zhi-Xiang Zhou

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(13), 4874; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17134874 - 06 Jul 2020

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 3210

Abstract

Epidemiological studies have corroborated that respiratory diseases, including lung cancer, are related to fine particulate matter (<2.5 μm) (PM_2.5) exposure. The toxic responses of PM_2.5 are greatly influenced by the source of PM_2.5. However, the effects of PM_2.5 from Beijing on bronchial genotoxicity are scarce. In the present study, PM_2.5 from Beijing was sampled and applied in vitro to investigate its genotoxicity and the mechanisms behind it. Human bronchial epithelial cells 16HBE were used as a model for exposure. Low (67.5 μg/mL), medium (116.9 μg/mL), and high (202.5 μg/mL) doses of PM_2.5 were used for cell exposure. After PM_2.5 exposure, cell viability, oxidative stress markers, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strand breaks, 8-OH-dG levels, micronuclei formation, and DNA repair gene expression were measured. The results showed that PM_2.5 significantly induced cytotoxicity in 16HBE. Moreover, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), and cellular heme oxygenase (HO-1) were increased, and the level of glutathione (GSH) was decreased, which represented the occurrence of severe oxidative stress in 16HBE. The micronucleus rate was elevated, and DNA damage occurred as indicators of the comet assay, γ-H2AX and 8-OH-dG, were markedly enhanced by PM_2.5, accompanied by the influence of 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1), X-ray repair cross-complementing gene 1 (XRCC1), and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP1) expression. These results support the significant role of PM_2.5 genotoxicity in 16HBE cells, which may occur through the combined effect on oxidative stress and the influence of DNA repair genes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution, Climate Change and Respiratory Health)

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Review

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14 pages, 1911 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Short-Term Ambient Ozone Exposure and COPD Hospitalizations

by Hui Gao, Kan Wang, William W. Au, Wensui Zhao and Zhao-lin Xia

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2020, 17(6), 2130; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062130 - 23 Mar 2020

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3300

Abstract

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death globally and ozone exposure is a main cause of its disease burden. However, studies on COPD hospitalizations from short-term ambient level ozone exposure have not generated consensus results. To address the knowledge gap, comprehensive and systematic searches in several databases were conducted using specific keywords for publications up to February 14, 2020. Random-effect models were used to derive overall excess risk estimates between short-term ambient-level ozone exposure and COPD hospitalizations. The influence analyses were used to test the robustness of the results. Both meta-regression and subgroup analyses were used to explore the sources of heterogeneity and potential modifying factors. Based on the results from 26 eligible studies, the random-effect model analyses show that a 10 µg/m³ increase in maximum 8-h ozone concentration was associated with 0.84% (95% CI: 0.09%, 1.59%) higher COPD hospitalizations. The estimates were higher for warm season and multiple-day lag but lower for old populations. Results from subgroup analyses also indicate a multiple-day lag trend and bigger significant health effects during longer day intervals. Although characteristics of individual studies added modest heterogeneity to the overall estimates, the results remained robust during further analyses and exhibited no evidence of publication bias. Our systematic review and meta-analysis indicate that short-term ambient level ozone exposure was associated with increased risk of COPD hospitalizations. The significant association with multiple-day lag trend indicates that a multiple-day exposure metric should be considered for establishing ambient ozone quality and exposure standards for improvement of population health. Future investigations and meta-analysis studies should include clinical studies as well as more careful lag selection protocol. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Pollution, Climate Change and Respiratory Health)

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