Chou Chloe K, Winker Raquel, Rebuli Meghan E, Moran Timothy, Rager Julia E
Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Curriculum in Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. 2025 May 21;25(1):25. doi: 10.1007/s11882-025-01206-9.
The frequency of natural disasters, other extreme weather events, and downstream emissions of emerging contaminants is increasing. One category of health outcome that is now experiencing increased prevalence due to these environmental threats is respiratory disease, specifically asthma and allergies; though a review summarizing current knowledge and research gaps has not been synthesized on this topic in recent years despite growing evidence.
We identified recent literature that connects allergy/asthma with environmental events that are increasing in prevalence alongside natural disasters and other extreme weather events, including algal blooms, floods, heat stress, wildfires, and thunderstorms. Coinciding emissions of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics (MPs) are also discussed as downstream outcomes of these environmental events. Available evidence ranged according to environmental event/stressor type, with over 50 papers identified as relevant to this research scope in the last five years. Narrative synthesis of these papers highlighted exposure-disease linkages for stressors related to natural disasters, other extreme weather events, and downstream emissions of emerging contaminants with pulmonary asthma and allergy outcomes. Underlying biological mechanisms are beginning to be elucidated and include widespread inflammation in the lungs and changes in immune cell signaling and function across the pulmonary system. Take home points in this review pave the way for future investigations to better understand the impacts of these environmental events amongst the complex milieu of threats becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide.
自然灾害、其他极端天气事件以及新兴污染物的下游排放频率正在增加。由于这些环境威胁而导致患病率上升的一类健康结果是呼吸道疾病，特别是哮喘和过敏；尽管近年来有越来越多的证据，但关于这一主题的总结当前知识和研究差距的综述尚未形成。
我们确定了近期的文献，这些文献将过敏/哮喘与随着自然灾害和其他极端天气事件而患病率不断上升的环境事件联系起来，这些事件包括藻华、洪水、热应激、野火和雷暴。全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）和微塑料（MPs）的同时排放也作为这些环境事件的下游结果进行了讨论。现有证据因环境事件/应激源类型而异，在过去五年中，有50多篇论文被确定与本研究范围相关。对这些论文的叙述性综合强调了与自然灾害、其他极端天气事件以及新兴污染物的下游排放相关的应激源与哮喘和过敏结局之间的暴露-疾病联系。潜在的生物学机制开始得到阐明，包括肺部广泛的炎症以及整个肺部系统免疫细胞信号传导和功能的变化。本综述中的要点为未来的研究铺平了道路，以便更好地理解这些环境事件在全球日益普遍的复杂威胁环境中的影响。
