The impact of air pollution on asthma: clinical outcomes, current epidemiology, and health disparities

Introduction: Air pollution has been shown to have a significant impact on morbidity and mortality of respiratory illnesses including asthma. Areas covered: Outdoor air pollution consists of a mixture of individual pollutants including vehicle traffic and industrial pollution. Studies have implicated an array of individual components of air pollution, with PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂, and ozone being the most classically described, and newer literature implicating other pollutants such as black carbon and volatile organic compounds. Epidemiological and cohort studies have described incidence and prevalence of pollution-related asthma and investigated both acute and chronic air pollution exposure as they relate to asthma outcomes. There is an increasing body of literature tying disparities in pollution exposure to clinical outcomes. In this narrative review, we assessed the published research investigating the association of pollution with asthma outcomes, focusing on the adult population and health care disparities. Expert opinion: Pollution has multiple deleterious effects on respiratory health but there is a lack of data on individualized pollution monitoring, making it difficult to establish a temporal relationship between exposure and symptoms, thereby limiting our understanding of safe exposure levels. Future research should focus on more personalized monitoring and treatment plans for mitigating exposure.