Abstract
While the negative influence of environmental pollution on the respiratory system is well established, especially for people with bronchial hyper-reactivity, the impact of particulate matter on quality of life in asthma patients is not well understood. Three hundred adult asthma patients were recruited for a study; for each patient, the daily concentrations of particulate matter of 2.5 µm or less in diameter (PM2.5) were recorded from air quality monitoring stations. The study was conducted over two weeks. After two weeks, the patients filled out the Asthma Quality of Life Questionnaire (AQLQ), evaluating the quality of their lives throughout the monitored period. Patients exposed to a higher concentration of PM2.5 had significantly lower AQLQ scores. Every 10 µg/m3 of an increase in the concentration of PM2.5 resulted in a decrease of the AQLQ score by 0.16. All domains of quality of life (symptoms, activity limitations, emotional functioning, and environmental stimuli) assessed in the questionnaire were negatively affected by PM2.5. These findings provide an important argument in favor of educating physicians and patients and raising awareness about the detrimental health effects of air pollution. Improving the quality of life of people with asthma requires an immediate and substantial reduction of air pollution.
Highlights
Bronchial asthma is one of the most frequently occurring chronic diseases [1]
PM2.5 exposure averaged 45.1 μg/m3 and only 75 (25%) patients were exposed to values lower or equal to 25 μg/m3, the 24 h threshold recommended by WHO
Patients exposed to higher levels of PM2.5 were older and the studied subgroups were significantly different according to active smoking prevalence (Table 1)
Summary
Bronchial asthma is one of the most frequently occurring chronic diseases [1]. Like every chronic disease, it poses a major problem in medical terms and in social and economic terms [2,3,4,5].As a long-term, incurable disease, it is a source of hardship and limitations for many patients pursuing their everyday activities, negatively impacting the quality of their lives.The negative influence of particulate matter (PM) on the respiratory system has been known for a long time, especially in the case of patients with bronchial hyper-reactivity [6,7]. Bronchial asthma is one of the most frequently occurring chronic diseases [1]. As a long-term, incurable disease, it is a source of hardship and limitations for many patients pursuing their everyday activities, negatively impacting the quality of their lives. The negative influence of particulate matter (PM) on the respiratory system has been known for a long time, especially in the case of patients with bronchial hyper-reactivity [6,7]. The evaluation of the impact of particulate matter on the quality of life of patients with bronchial asthma has not yet been widely analyzed. To the best of our knowledge, only limited evidence exists to suggest that fine particles measuring less than 10 μm (PM10 ) has an impact on the quality of life of patients with bronchial asthma [8], with no conclusive confirmation of the detrimental connection between the quality of life and the concentration of PM10. No studies were conducted concerning particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less in diameter (PM2.5 )
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