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Review
. 2022 Aug;35(4):307-332.
doi: 10.37201/req/171.2021. Epub 2022 Mar 11.

Air pollution and health prevention: A document of reflection

E Bouza  1 , F Vargas, B Alcázar, T Álvarez, A Asensio, G Cruceta, D Gracia, J Guinea, M A Gil, C Linares, P Muñoz, P Pastor, M L Pedro-Botet, X Querol, J Tovar, I Urrutia, F Villar, E Palomo
Affiliations
Review

Air pollution and health prevention: A document of reflection

E Bouza et al. Rev Esp Quimioter. 2022 Aug.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Ambient air quality, pollution and its implication on health is a topic of enormous importance that is normally dealt with by major specialists in their particular areas of interest. In general, it is not discussed from multidisciplinary approaches or with a language that can reach everyone. For this reason, the Health Sciences Foundation, from its prevention area, has formulated a series of questions to people with very varied competences in the area of ambient air quality in order to obtain a global panorama of the problem and its elements of measurement and control. The answers have been produced by specialists in each subject and have been subjected to a general discussion that has allowed conclusions to be reached on each point. The subject was divided into three main blocks: external ambient air, internal ambient air, mainly in the workplace, and hospital ambient air and the consequences of its poor control. Along with the definitions of each area and the indicators of good and bad quality, some necessary solutions have been pointed out. We have tried to know the current legislation on this problem and the competences of the different administrations on it. Despite its enormous importance, ambient air quality and health is not usually a topic of frequent presence in the general media and we have asked about the causes of this. Finally, the paper addresses a series of reflections from the perspective of ethics and very particularly in the light of the events that the present pandemic raises. This work aims to provide objective data and opinions that will enable non-specialists in the field to gain a better understanding of this worrying reality.

La calidad del aire ambiente y su implicación en la salud es un tema de enorme importancia que normalmente es tratado por grandes especialistas en sus particulares áreas de interés. En general, no es discutido desde enfoques multidisciplinares ni con un lenguaje que pueda llegar a todos. Por ese motivo, la Fundación de Ciencias de la Salud desde su área de prevención, ha formulado una serie de preguntas a personas con competencias muy variadas en el área de la calidad del aire ambiente para obtener un panorama global del problema y de sus elementos de medida y control. Las respuestas han sido producidas por especialistas en cada tema y han sido sometidas a una discusión general que ha permitido alcanzar conclusiones en cada punto. El tema ha sido dividido en tres grandes bloques: el aire ambiente externo, el aire ambiente interno, principal-mente en el medio laboral, y el aire ambiente hospitalario y las consecuencias de su mal control. Junto con las definiciones de cada área y los indicadores de buena y mala calidad, se ha apuntado a algunas necesarias soluciones. Hemos tratado de conocer la legislación vigente sobre este problema y las competencias de las distintas administraciones sobre el mismo. Pese a su enorme importancia, la calidad del aire ambiente y la salud no suele ser un tema de frecuente presencia en los medios de comunicación generales y hemos preguntado sobre las causas de ello. Finalmente, el documento aborda una serie de reflexiones desde la perspectiva de la ética y muy particularmente a la luz de los acontecimientos que la presente pandemia plantea. Este trabajo pretende aportar datos objetivos y opinión que permitan a los no especialistas en el tema conocer mejor esta preocupante realidad.

Keywords: Ambient air; invasive aspergillosis; measurement systems; nosocomial infection; public health; quality; respiratory infections.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Deaths per year in Europe due to air pollution
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevention and control of pathogen transmission by aerosols.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Search for tax equity
Figure 4
Figure 4
Influence of different particles in interior spaces.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Annual distribution of cases of invasive aspergillosis in heart transplant recipients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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