Proyecto I+D+i EDIAQI: Evidence Driven Indoor Air Quality Improvement.

 

ENTIDAD FINANCIADORA: HORIZON-HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-02-02 (European Comission).

REFERENCIA: GRANT AGREEMENT Nº 101057497

DURACIÓN DEL PROYECTO: 2022-2026

RESPONSABLE (USE): Fernández-Agüera Escudero, Jesica.

PRESUPUESTO: 730.000,00 euros.

 

Samuel Domínguez Amarillo

Carmen Galán Marín

Juan José Sendra Salas

FECHA DE INICIO: 01/12/2022

FECHA DE FINALIZACIÓN: 30/11/2026

 

RESUMEN: People are constantly exposed to both outdoor and indoor air pollution (IAP), with the latter progressively becoming an important issue, as we spend more and more time indoors. In fact, the latest research shows that people in developed countries spend up to 90% of their time indoors, almost 70% of which is at home. Recently, the time spent indoors has dramatically increased due to the global pandemic. And while isolation might prevent viruses from spreading, poor indoor air quality (IAQ) may have other severe health outcomes. Recent studies suggest that up to 15% of COVID-19 related deaths could be attributed to impaired air quality in residential environments. Poor indoor air quality along with contamination by biological agents related to moisture and mould, increase the risk of respiratory diseases by 50%.

A systematic review and meta-analysis from 2020 noted that in 2017 household air pollution was associated with 1.8 million deaths and more than 60 million disability-adjusted life years globally. The majority of burden associated with household air pollution is seen in low and middle-income countries. In Europe alone, exposure to particulate matter (PM) reduces the life expectancy of each person by an average of almost a year, mainly due to the increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, neurological disorders, and lung cancer. Although impaired IAQ represents a major health risk, it affects people in different ways and certain populations are more vulnerable. Children, elderly, people with respiratory illnesses are more sensitive to these environmental risks than the general public. For example, children living near highways with high load of heavy-duty vehicles have twofold higher risk of respiratory problems than those who live near less congested streets.

IAQ is determined by various factors and processes, such as outdoor pollution levels, pollution transport between indoors-outdoors, internal emission, chemical reactions of gasses on particles and surfaces, dynamic processes (e.g. resuspension, deposition, evaporation, growth, coagulation, etc.), and ventilation/indoor air filtration. Outdoor pollution can be transported into the indoor environment through building cracks, shell, etc., and doors/windows. Indoor air chemistry is yet another process significantly contributing to IAQ. Despite rather extensive research on IAQ, the majority of current understanding about IAQ, pollution sources, indoor-outdoor relationships, and ventilation/filtration are still limited on temporal and spatial scales. Only few studies have focused on online ultrafine, black carbon, submicron particle and allergen concentrations, related to sensitive groups (e.g., children, pregnant women). Moreover, it is known that the ventilation rates and deposition velocities are highly variable (up to 30% from average) between the different residential buildings and experimental periods (e.g., summer versus winter). Differences in ventilation habits of the inhabitants, varying material surfaces, meteorological conditions, etc. renders stationary and static IAQ investigations rather limited in usable output.

There is a lack of knowledge of representative residential particle, gas, and allergen exposure levels, risks assessment, and IAQ legislations in the long-term and in multiple indoor environments in Europe. Analysis of the existing guidelines for IAQ in EU Member States revealed significantly different reference values of indoor pollutants across Europe. Such differences can create social segregation and different lifestyle conditions. To avoid imbalance and to protect the most vulnerable, it is important to set IAQ monitoring guidelines and to perform long-term and wide coverage (both longitudinal and latitudinal) measurements to gather the most relevant information about IAP characteristics. Legislative regulations of most of the countries to control airborne pollution still refer to PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 (aerodynamic particle diameter <10 and <2.5 μm, respectively) fractions only. However, scientific evidence shows that more attention should be focused on the chemical composition of smaller particle fractions such as PM₁, as well as black carbon. Some toxicological studies suggest that PM₁ particle fraction is more hazardous than PM_2.5 on cytotoxic effects and inflammation. Furthermore, scientific-based evidence on indoor and outdoor air suggests that the use of PM₁₀-bound benzo(a)pyrene, as the only marker of exposure to carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), must be supplemented by including other health-relevant PAHs, gas phase PAHs (e.g., naphthalene) and smaller PM fractions.

Special attention must be also dedicated to better understanding exposure to other and novel compounds, not still reported in the regulations, but considered as hazardous for human health. For example, exposure to ultrafine particles and black carbon is known to have particularly negative health effects due to their small size (ability to penetrate air-blood barrier in the respiratory tract) and chemical composition. Determining size distribution of particle-bound carcinogen compounds, black carbon and ultrafine particles deposition dose, and physical-chemical characteristics of some newly emerging pollutants, such as microplastics and plasticizers would allow estimating respiratory tract deposition dose of pollutants for much more accurate health risk assessment.

In the framework of the project EDIAQI, multiple indoor exposure scenarios to standard and beyond the-state-of-the-art air pollutants will be investigated. Study domain is chosen to be residential (houses and public offices) and recreational sites (i.e., cinemas, theatres, restaurants), hospitals, and schools across Europe. Differences in subpopulations will manifest in distinct exposure concentrations and respiratory tract deposition doses of pollutants for each category. The quantification of indoor air pollutants will be performed deploying the latest aerosol instrumentation, alongside with the latest innovative and technologically advanced low-cost sensors. The latter will be thoroughly validated and calibrated to reach defined accuracy and precision of the reference instruments.

A unified, large-scale, and long-term indoor pollution monitoring strategy, involving transdisciplinary research approaches, big-data, interoperability, and internet of things would enable

a) scientists to better understand the indoor exposure to pollutants and related health effects,

b) provide science-based information for legislative bodies to set IAQ guidelines, and

c) prepare strategies for sustainable, science-based technological innovation to improve IAQ.

 

The EDIAQI project presents an interdisciplinary, science-based, and data-driven approach to improve guidelines and awareness for advancing the IAQ in Europe and beyond. Besides creating novel evidence from planned cohorts, pilots and measurement campaigns, the scientists in this project will leverage knowledge from past cohorts and data with a strong focus on sensitive groups of pre-school and school children with a high risk of asthma.