Barcelona emergency rooms were collapsing from the pressure. Hundreds of patients arrived in dire need as they struggled to breathe. Intensive care units struggled to cope with the sudden influx of people with respiratory problems . Epidemiologists were quick to trace the source of the outbreak.
This epidemic of the 1980s might have some striking similarities to the coronavirus pandemic, but there was no infection to hold responsible. The city suffered from asthma flare-ups.
Between 1981 and 1989, 26 asthma outbreaks were reported in the Spanish city, many of them around the port. Eventually, local scientists discovered that the cause was soybean dust that was released into the air when the goods were unloaded .
The solution was quite simple: filters to cover the soy silos. However, the episode left a remarkable legacy in the scientific community of Barcelona, which could help us to identify a significant risk in the development of the brain of children.
Asthma epidemics were initially thought to be due to air pollution from burning fossil fuels , so the researchers created a registry to map their potential impact. This became the basis for local researchers to continue to monitor the effects of dirty air for decades to come.
Although the immediate effect of air pollution on asthma was much weaker than soy dust, it was affecting the population on a daily basis. Over time, air pollution appeared to be responsible for more emergency room asthma admissions than acute soy-related epidemics.
The air pollution
Professor Jordi Sunyer from ISGlobal, the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, was one of the researchers who discovered the link with soy and studies the effects of air pollution.
“In the 1980s, domestic coal burning was a big problem, and sulfur oxide levels were very high. This was controlled, but now, especially in Europe, there is a dramatic increase in traffic and diesel combustion, “he said.
In addition to changes in the type of pollution, he says we have come to better understand the extent of damage caused by air pollution, beyond the lungs.
“In the 1990s, it seemed that the cardiovascular system was a major target for air pollution. Then, in 2008, there were animal studies that showed an effect on the brain, “he said.” This was because the size of the pollution particles was so small that they could travel to the brain and cause neuroinflammation . “
In 2015, Prof. Sunyer and his colleagues published research showing that high levels of pollution were linked to a 5% decrease in working memory tests in children aged 7 to 10 years. “It is the same variation that was found several years ago between children with high blood lead levels and children with lower blood levels,” said Prof. Sunyer.
When lead contamination from gasoline was found to cause widespread damage, unleaded gasoline was introduced beginning in the 1970s. At the individual level, a 5% decrease in one test would not be enough to have an obvious impact. But at the population level it could have a significant economic cost , says Prof. Sunyer.
He adds that 90% of brain development occurs by age four, so he is now following his previous study to understand the effects of air pollution in the early stages of life .
Sunyer leads the AIR-NB study to monitor exposure to air pollution before the child is born. The research team is recruiting 1,200 pregnant women in Barcelona for the study and measuring pollution levels in their homes.
Taking into account other possible factors, such as the mother’s physical activity, noise pollution, and stress hormones, they will try to identify differences between children as they develop. Researchers will take pictures of your brains in the third trimester of pregnancy and starting one month after birth using MRI scans.
Autism
Another concern is that air pollution can increase the risk of developing autism spectrum disorder . Several studies in the US suggested that there is a link to air pollution, but the results of a large European project found no connection. However, this research brought together the results of different studies that used different methods, which may have affected the results.
ISGlobal Visiting Researcher Dr Juana María Delgado-Saborit hopes to help with the study of this topic using data from 18,000 children in the UK. These children are part of the Millennium Study cohorts and have been regularly monitored and tested for the past two decades.
“I thought maybe with that large cohort there might be an opportunity to see if there is a real problem in the UK and Europe, or if the Americans are seeing a difference because of the makeup of the pollution,” he said.
For a project called COGNAC, Dr. Delgado-Saborit is using health information collected on children up to 14 years of age to search for autism spectrum disorder diagnoses or traits of the condition. By overlaying this information with maps of contamination during pregnancy and in her early years , she hopes to identify any potential links.
Analysis of the data is ongoing, but its first results suggest there is a connection to ozone levels in the air. Ozone is an irritant that is formed by a reaction involving nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, common pollutants in road traffic.
Change
Both Dr. Delgado-Saborit and Prof. Sunyer draw parallels with the change in perspective of the damage caused by air pollution after the thousands of deaths in the Great Fog of London in 1952 .
“Since the industrial revolution, we knew we were dirtying our environment, but we didn’t have the evidence of damage. When we started measuring changes, we started to realize that something was happening, especially during the London Great Fog episode. That made us realize that the air was having an impact on our health, “said Dr. Delgado-Saborit.
“Then came the Clean Air Laws and the air was cleaned. In the 1980s, pollution levels were thought to be safe for health,” Prof. Sunyer said.
As in the 1950s, today there is a broad understanding that our dirty air is not safe, but we still don’t know how much of an impact it has on our lives. While it is accepted that children in school should not be exposed to high levels of pollution, says Prof. Sunyer, the results of his research could have far-reaching consequences. “If we find that pregnancy and early life is a more vulnerable period, I think this will force society to seek new ways of living in cities that also protect children’s health .”
However, compared to putting a lid on soybean powder, this can be quite a challenge.
Artículo original
This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine
