Airborne chemical pollution and children’s asthma incidence rate in Minsk

Introduction: Asthma, as a multifactorial disease is closely connected with air pollution. Discovering interconnection between concentrations of air pollutants and asthma incidence rate among children provides information for developing effective measures to reduce air pollution and improve population health. Study purpose was to carry out hygienic analysis of the influence of atmospheric air quality on the incidence rate of bronchial asthma and the asthmatic status of children in Minsk in 2009-2018. Methods: During 2019 retrospective health cohort study was conducted, data from stationary air quality monitoring posts were collected. Correlation analysis was conducted by determining the Pearson rank correlation coefficient. Results: Strong evidence was found for concentrations of particulate matter (dust / aerosol undifferentiated in composition), lead, ammonia and nitrogen dioxide making a significant contribution to the formation of elevated asthma and asthmatic status morbidity. The age group of risk are children under the age of 9 years (inclusive). Conclusions: Patterns obtained in this study are confirmed by the results of other studies (Wang et al. 2017; Orellano et al. 2017). Nevertheless, the main limitations in study are associated with the heterogeneity of the distribution of air quality monitoring posts and the changing list of controlled pollutants for the analyzed period

Air Pollution Monitoring and Its Health Impact in Belarus

The chapter contains information on the state of air pollution in the Republic of Belarus and Minsk, including emissions and concentrations of pollutants. Organization of air quality monitoring system overviews monitoring network and monitoring posts, list of controlled substances, frequency, and organization of sampling. The chapter contains applied methods for evaluating the results of laboratory monitoring of atmospheric air pollution, and complex indicators are used to assess the degree of atmospheric pollution. The main results of studies of the impact of atmospheric air pollution in the Republic of Belarus on the state of public health conducted during the last 20 years will be discussed