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Dobney Alec

The negative effect of air pollution on human health is well documented illustrating increased risk of respiratory, cardiac and other health conditions. Currently, during air pollution episodes Public Health England (PHE) syndromic surveillance systems provide a near real-time analysis of the health impact of poor air quality. In England, syndromic surveillance has previously been used on an ad hoc basis to monitor health impact; this has usually happened during widespread national air pollution episodes where the air pollution index has reached "High"™ or "Very High"™ levels on the UK Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI). We now aim to undertake a more systematic approach to understanding the utility of syndromic surveillance for monitoring the health impact of air pollution. This would improve our understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of syndromic surveillance systems for contributing to the public health response to acute air pollution incidents; form a baseline for future interventions; assess whether syndromic surveillance systems provide a useful tool for public health alerting; enable us to explore which pollutants drive changes in health-care seeking behaviour; and add to the knowledge base.

Objective:

To explore the utility of syndromic surveillance systems for detecting and monitoring the impact of air pollution incidents on health-care seeking behaviour in England between 2012 and 2017.

Submitted by elamb on

The impact of poor air quality (AQ) on human health is a global issue, with periods of poor AQ known to occur in multiple locations, across different countries at, or around the same time. The Public Health England (PHE) Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance System (EDSSS) is a public health legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, monitoring anonymised daily attendance data in near real-time from a sentinel network of up to 38 EDs across England and Northern Ireland during 2014. The Organisation de la Surveillance COordonnée des URgences (OSCOUR®) is a similar ED system coordinated by Santé publique France and has been running in France since 2004, established following a major heatwave in 2003 to improve real-time public health surveillance capabilities. This truly national network included around 540 EDs in 2014.

Objective

To assess the impact on human health observed in association with periods of poor air quality which extended across international borders, affecting both London (UK) and Paris (France). In particular to quantify increased levels of emergency department (ED) attendances for asthma and wheeze/ difficulty breathing, and how different age groups were affected. Here, using ED syndromic surveillance from England and France, we aimed to identify and describe the acute impact of periods of particularly poor air quality during 2014 on human health in both London and Paris.

Submitted by Magou on
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