Air Quality & Public Health Group, Environmental Hazards and Emergencies Department, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Oxon, OX11 0RQ, UK.
Air Quality & Public Health Group, Environmental Hazards and Emergencies Department, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Chilton, Oxon, OX11 0RQ, UK.
Environ Res. 2021 May;196:110817. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110817. Epub 2021 Jan 30.
Children are particularly vulnerable to the detrimental health impacts of poor air quality. In the UK, recent initiatives at local council level have focussed on mitigating children's air pollution exposure at school. However, an overview of the available evidence on concentration and exposure in school environments - and a summary of key knowledge gaps - has so far been lacking. To address this, we conducted a review bringing together recent academic and grey literature, relating to air quality in outdoor school environments - including playgrounds, drop-off zones, and the school commute - across high-income countries. We aimed to critically assess, synthesise, and categorise the available literature, to produce recommendations on future research and mitigating actions. Our searches initially identified 883 articles of interest, which were filtered down in screening and appraisal to a final total of 100 for inclusion. Many of the included studies focussed on nitrogen dioxide (NO), and particulate matter (PM) in both the coarse and fine fractions, around schools across a range of countries. Some studies also observed ozone (O) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) outside schools. Our review identified evidence that children can encounter pollution peaks on the school journey, at school gates, and in school playgrounds; that nearby traffic is a key determinant of concentrations outside schools; and that factors relating to planning and urban design - such as the type of playground paving, and amount of surrounding green space - can influence school site concentrations. The review also outlines evidence gaps that can be targeted in future research. These include the need for more personal monitoring studies that distinguish between the exposure that takes place indoors and outdoors at school, and a need for a greater number of studies that conduct before-after evaluation of local interventions designed to mitigate children's exposure, such as green barriers and road closures. Finally, our review also proposes some tangible recommendations for policymakers and local leaders. The creation of clean air zones around schools; greening of school grounds; careful selection of new school sites; promotion of active travel to and from school; avoidance of major roads on the school commute; and scheduling of outdoor learning and play away from peak traffic hours, are all advocated by the evidence collated in this review.
儿童尤其容易受到空气质量差带来的不良健康影响。在英国，地方议会层面的最近举措侧重于减轻儿童在学校的空气污染暴露。然而，到目前为止，还缺乏对学校环境中浓度和暴露的现有证据的概述，以及对关键知识空白的总结。为了解决这个问题，我们进行了一项审查，汇集了最近关于高收入国家户外学校环境空气质量的学术和灰色文献，包括操场、下车区和学校通勤。我们的目的是批判性地评估、综合和分类现有文献，为未来的研究和缓解措施提出建议。我们的搜索最初确定了 883 篇有兴趣的文章，经过筛选和评估，最终共有 100 篇被纳入。许多纳入的研究都集中在二氧化氮 (NO) 和粗颗粒和细颗粒的颗粒物 (PM) 上，研究范围涵盖了一系列国家的学校。一些研究还观察了学校外的臭氧 (O) 和挥发性有机化合物 (VOCs)。我们的审查确定了一些证据，表明儿童在上学途中、在学校门口和在学校操场上可能会遇到污染高峰；附近的交通是学校外浓度的关键决定因素；与规划和城市设计相关的因素，如操场铺地类型和周围绿地面积，会影响学校场地的浓度。审查还概述了未来研究中可以针对的证据空白。这些包括需要更多的个人监测研究，区分学校室内和室外的暴露情况，以及需要更多的研究，对旨在减轻儿童暴露的地方干预措施进行前后评估，例如绿色屏障和道路封闭。最后，我们的审查还为政策制定者和地方领导人提出了一些切实可行的建议。在学校周围建立清洁空气区；绿化学校场地；仔细选择新的学校场地；促进往返学校的积极出行；避免在上学途中走主要道路；以及安排户外学习和玩耍避开交通高峰期，这些都是本审查中汇集的证据所倡导的。
