The relationship between airborne particle exposure, incident respiratory symptoms and decline in lung function

Funding Activity

Website
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/236934

Funding Status
Closed

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Funded Activity Summary

Air pollution has been consistently identified as the environmental health problem of greatest concern to the general public in Australia. Yet hard evidence of adverse health effects from air pollution in Australian cities and towns is limited to date. It has been estimated that high levels of particles in urban air could be responsible for as many as 2,400 deaths nationally, costing approximately $4,300 million each year. This study will follow two groups of young Melbourne adults recruited some years ago for studies of respiratory health. They will be a sent a questionnaire by mail and invited back to our laboratory for breathing tests. We will obtain routinely collected air quality data and measure fine particles < 2.5 thousandths of a mm in outdoor air. A subgroup of 100 subjects will also participate in some measurements of indoor air pollution. The analysis will look for relationships between particles in the air, new symptoms and changes in lung function over time. Comparisons will also made with other centres doing a very similar study in Europe. Reviews commissioned by the National Environment Protection Council have highlighted the lack of Australian data to assist in setting standards for particulate air pollution. The proposed study would provide some of the necessary local data and assist in the development of new health based environmental protection measures for fine particles. Once these measures have been implemented, we would expect to see an improvement in the respiratory health of the Australian population.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2003

End Date: 01-01-2005

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $315,497.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Ophthalmology

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

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Other Keywords

Air pollution | Asthma | Chronic airflow limitation | Cohort studies | Environmental health | Epidemiology | Particles | Respiratory symptoms

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