Division of Pneumology and Allergology, Department of Respiratory Diseases, High Specialty Hospital A. Cardarelli, Naples, Italy.
J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2010;20(2):95-102; quiz following 102.
The incidence of allergic respiratory diseases and bronchial asthma appears to be increasing worldwide, and people living in urban areas more frequently experience these conditions than those living in rural areas. One of the several causes of the rise in morbidity associated with allergic respiratory diseases is the increased presence of outdoor air pollutants resulting from more intense energy consumption and exhaust emissions from cars and other vehicles. Urban air pollution is now a serious public health hazard. Laboratory studies confirm epidemiologic evidence that air pollution adversely affects lung function in asthmatics. Damage to airway mucous membranes and impaired mucociliary clearance caused by air pollution may facilitate access of inhaled allergens to the cells of the immune system, thus promoting sensitization of the airway. Consequently, a more severe immunoglobulin (Ig) E-mediated response to aeroallergens and airway inflammation could account for increasing prevalence of allergic respiratory diseases in polluted urban areas. The most abundant components of urban air pollution in urban areas with high levels of vehicle traffic are airborne particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. In addition, the earth's temperature is increasing, mainly as a result of anthropogenic factors (e.g., fossil fuel combustion and greenhouse gas emissions from energy supply, transport, industry, and agriculture), and climate change alters the concentration and distribution of air pollutants and interferes with the seasonal presence of allergenic pollens in the atmosphere by prolonging these periods.
过敏性呼吸道疾病和支气管哮喘的发病率似乎在全球范围内呈上升趋势，居住在城市地区的人比居住在农村地区的人更频繁地经历这些疾病。过敏性呼吸道疾病发病率上升的原因之一是由于能源消耗加剧和汽车及其他车辆的尾气排放，导致户外空气污染物的增加。城市空气污染现在是一个严重的公共卫生危害。实验室研究证实了流行病学证据，即空气污染会对哮喘患者的肺功能产生不良影响。空气污染对气道黏膜的损害和纤毛清除功能的损害可能使吸入的过敏原更容易进入免疫系统细胞，从而促进气道致敏。因此，对空气过敏原和气道炎症的更严重的免疫球蛋白（Ig）E 介导的反应可能是造成污染城市地区过敏性呼吸道疾病流行的原因。交通繁忙的城市地区空气中污染最严重的成分是空气传播的颗粒物、二氧化氮和臭氧。此外，地球的温度正在升高，主要是由于人为因素（例如，化石燃料燃烧和能源供应、运输、工业和农业产生的温室气体排放），气候变化通过延长这些时期，改变了空气污染物的浓度和分布，并干扰空气中过敏原花粉的季节性存在。
