Air pollution and child respiratory diseases: the Viseu case study, Portugal

Abstract

An urban area of inland Portugal, without severe air pollution problems as yet, was selected for this work, based on the fact that future development could lead to air quality degradation. To evaluate the influence of air pollution on 6 to 10 years old asthmatic children, environment and medical parameters were monitored. Children were selected based on the school health questionnaire validated and widely applied by the ISAAC project (International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) and submitted to medical tests at the hospital. At the same time, several field campaigns were realised to characterize the outdoor and indoor air quality of the study area in different seasons (winter and summer time). Measured parameters included meteorological data and ambient air concentrations of ozone (O 3 ), nitrogen oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene (BTEX), measured continuously (3 mobile labs) and using diffusive tubes (indoor and outdoor), and also particulate matter (PM 10 and PM 2.5 ), using high volume and low volume samplers. Preliminary results have shown that, although the study area has no air pollution problems as yet, high levels of some pollutants, like particulate matter, could be registered, especially at night. To understand the influence of dispersion conditions on air quality, mesoscale and local scale models were applied and validated with field campaign data.

Effects of road traffic scenarios on human exposure to air pollution

“…The work presented in this paper is part of a wider project [14], which aimed at the development of scientific elements that can be considered and incorporated into local development plans and in the exercise of the territorial planning, contributing to the sustainable development of a town and therefore, to the improvement of the quality of life of the populations in what concerns air quality and health.…”

“…The project wide methodological approach is presented in Figure 1. A detailed description of the project is made by Borrego et al [14]. This paper explores the impact on emissions, air quality and individual exposure of different development scenarios for the year 2030.…”

“…This study is part of a large project involving researchers from environmental and medical sciences -the "The Health and the Air we breath" (SaudAr) Project [14] -which main objective was to contribute for the sustainable development of a region by preventing air pollution problems and health related diseases in the future due to expected economical growth. The project wide methodological approach is presented in Figure 1.…”