2007, Jacquemin, Bénédicte, Sunyer, Jordi, Forsberg, Bertil, Götschi, Thomas, Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy, Ackermann-Liebrich, Ursula, de Marco, Roberto, Heinrich, Joachim, Jarvis, Deborah, Torén, Kjell, Künzli, Nino

Background Annoyance due to air pollution is a subjective score of air quality, which has been incorporated into the National Environmental monitoring of some countries. The objectives of this study are to describe the variations in annoyance due to air pollution in Europe and its individual and environmental determinants. Methods This study took place in the context of the European Community Respiratory Health Survey II (ECRHS II) that was conducted during 1999–2001. It included 25 centres in 12 countries and 7867 randomly selected adults from the general population. Annoyance due to air pollution was self-reported on an 11-point scale. Annual mean mass concentration of fine particles (PM2.5) and its sulphur (S) content were measured in 21 centres as a surrogate of urban air pollution. Results Forty-three per cent of participants reported moderate annoyance (1–5 on the scale) and 14% high annoyance (≥6) with large differences across centres (2–40% of high annoyance). Participants in the Northern European countries reported less annoyance. Female gender, nocturnal dyspnoea, phlegm and rhinitis, self-reported car and heavy vehicle traffic in front of the home, high education, non-smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke were associated with higher annoyance levels. At the centre level, adjusted means of annoyance scores were moderately associated with sulphur urban levels (slope 1.43 μg m−3, standard error 0.40, r = 0.61). Conclusions Annoyance due to air pollution is frequent in Europe. Individuals’ annoyance may be a useful measure of perceived ambient quality and could be considered a complementary tool for health surveillance.

2005-11, Bayer-Oglesby, Lucy, Grize, Leticia, Gassner, Markus, Takken-Sahli, Kathy, Sennhauser, Felix H., Neu, Urs, Schindler, Christian, Braun-Fahrländer, Charlotte

The causality of observed associations between air pollution and respiratory health in children is still subject to debate. If reduced air pollution exposure resulted in improved respiratory health of children, this would argue in favor of a causal relation. We investigated whether a rather moderate decline of air pollution levels in the 1990s in Switzerland was associated with a reduction in respiratory symptoms and diseases in school children. In nine Swiss communities, 9,591 children participated in cross-sectional health assessments between 1992 and 2001. Their parents completed identical questionnaires on health status and covariates. We assigned to each child an estimate of regional particles with an aerodynamic diameter < 10 μg/m3 (PM10) and determined change in PM10 since the first survey. Adjusted for socioeconomic, health-related, and indoor factors, declining PM10 was associated in logistic regression models with declining prevalence of chronic cough [odds ratio (OR) per 10-μg/m3 decline = 0.65, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.54–0.79], bronchitis (OR = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.55–0.80), common cold (OR = 0.78; 95% CI, 0.68–0.89), nocturnal dry cough (OR = 0.70; 95% CI, 0.60–0.83), and conjunctivitis symptoms (OR = 0.81; 95% CI, 0.70–0.95). Changes in prevalence of sneezing during pollen season, asthma, and hay fever were not associated with the PM10 reduction. Our findings show that the reduction of air pollution exposures contributes to improved respiratory health in children. No threshold of adverse effects of PM10 was apparent because we observed the beneficial effects for relatively small changes of rather moderate air pollution levels. Current air pollution levels in Switzerland still exceed limit values of the Swiss Clean Air Act; thus, children’s health can be improved further.