Impact of Air Pollution on Chronic Airway Narrowing

The increasing availability of data from electronic health records in healthcare organizations and systems has made it feasible to assess the relationship between various environmental parameters (e.g., pollution levels, meteorological data), hospital admissions, morbidity, and mortality associated with lung diseases. This study aimed to assess the correlation between air pollution levels and respiratory function parameters in patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases residing in various regions of the Attica Basin, Greece. Air pollution measurements were obtained from the Department of Atmospheric Quality of the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy. In particular, data from daily bulletins and air pollution measurements were utilized. Numerical averages were calculated across all monitoring stations. The analysis revealed statistically significant negative correlations between the concentrations of tropospheric ozone (O₃), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM₁₀) and the respiratory parameters forced vital capacity (FVC%pred), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁%pred), forced mid-expiratory flow between 25 and 75% of FVC (FEF25-75%pred), and peak expiratory flow (PEF%pred) on the day of examination (Day 0). Air pollution measurements were found to be significantly and negatively correlated with lung function parameters. Specifically, increased concentrations of O3, CO, SO2, NO2, and PM10 were significantly associated with lower values of the measured lung function parameters. Climate change may significantly affect future levels of O3 and the other air pollutants studied in this work. Many regions may face substantial increases in their concentrations, despite the implementation of emission reduction measures. This study clearly highlights the adverse effects of the examined air pollutants on key lung function parameters associated with obstructive lung diseases.