Short- and long-term effects of ambient air pollution on asthma in European urban and rural areas

Abstract

Exposure to ambient air pollution causes effects on the development of many diseases including respiratory diseases. One such respiratory disease is asthma. Many studies already determined negative effects of air pollution exposure on asthma. Yet, most of these studies in Europe were done in urban areas.In this literature review, short- and long-term effects of ambient air pollution on asthma development and exacerbation in European rural and urban areas were studied. Based on a preliminary study, it was decided to focuson single-pollutant effects of five air pollutants: PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3 and SO2. It was hypothesized that exposure of NO2 and PM would mainly have negative effects in urban areas, O3 mainly in rural areas and SO2 in both type of areas. Sixteen studies were selected using a clear search strategy. Only one of these studies addressed differences between rural and urban areas in their results. Results of this study suggested that the expected effects of NO2, PM and O3 exposure could only be confirmed on the long-term.The other fifteen studies indicated mainly negative effects of NO2 and PM exposure, both on the short-and long-term.Differences between effects of PM2.5 and PM10 were debatable.Effects of SO2 were studied too little to give a conclusive answer. For future research, it is recommended to consider rural areas more and examine multi-pollutant models that include demographics such as age.