TITLE:
Estimating Exposure to Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Its Consequences on Respiratory Health in Population Working or Living along the Trunk Road: A Systematic Review
AUTHORS:
Parfait Houngbégnon, Eloïc Atindegla, Hervé Lawin, Victoire Agueh
KEYWORDS:
TRAP, Urban Air Pollution, Respiratory Health, Trunk Road
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Air Pollution,
Vol.9 No.4,
December
4,
2020
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Urban Air pollution is increasingly becoming a major health and sustainable
development issue. Several studies showed that Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP)
is one of the main sources of urban air pollution and has serious consequences on
respiratory health. As no systematic review focused on the traffic-related air pollution
and respiratory health in the target population of individuals working in a shop
or in an office or individuals living along the trunk road, the authors conducted
the current study to try to fill this gap. Methods: A systematic review search
was conducted using MEDLINE (PubMed), Scientific Research Publishing: SCIRP, Web
of Science, Google scholar. Studies were included if they meet the following selection
criteria: 1) focus
on population working or living along a major/trunk road; 2) studies had reported clearly at least on the exposure
variables related to TRAP; 3) the association between TRAP
and development of respiratory symptoms or respiratory diseases was established. Results: 13 articles were selected on the 192 articles that were retrieved
in the initial research. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution was determined
by using distance to road, traffic intensity and pollutants measured. The main respiratory
health problems found were cough, wheeze, asthma and bronchitis. No article discussed
about roundabouts in characterizing exposure to traffic-related air pollution. Conclusion: Distance to road, traffic density and pollutants measured are the usual methods
to characterize the exposure to traffic-related air pollution and its consequences
on respiratory health. Regarding the context of area occupations in African cities,
it is necessary to focus on population around roundabouts and see if they are not
more exposed to TRAP.