Scoping Review—The Association between Asthma and Environmental Chemicals

Tiina Mattila, Tiina Santonen, Helle Raun Andersen, Andromachi Katsonouri, Tamás Szigeti, Maria Uhl, Wojciech Wąsowicz, Rosa Lange, Beatrice Bocca, Flavia Ruggieri, Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Denis A. Sarigiannis and Hanna Tolonen
Additional contact information
Tiina Mattila: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland
Tiina Santonen: Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, PO Box 40, 00032 Helsinki, Finland
Helle Raun Andersen: Environmental Medicine, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, DK-5000 Odense, Denmark
Andromachi Katsonouri: State General Laboratory, Ministry of Health, PO Box 28648, 2081 Nicosia, Cyprus
Tamás Szigeti: National Public Health Center, 1097 Budapest, Hungary
Maria Uhl: Environment Agency, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Wojciech Wąsowicz: Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, 91-348 Lodz, Poland
Rosa Lange: German Environment Agency, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Beatrice Bocca: Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
Flavia Ruggieri: Department of Environment and Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, Italy
Marike Kolossa-Gehring: German Environment Agency, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Denis A. Sarigiannis: Technologies Division, Environmental Engineering Laboratory Department of Chemical Engineering and HERACLES Research Center on the Exposome and Health Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation, Aristotle University, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Hanna Tolonen: Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, PO Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide affecting all age groups from children to the elderly. In addition to other factors such as smoking, air pollution and atopy, some environmental chemicals are shown or suspected to increase the risk of asthma, exacerbate asthma symptoms and cause other respiratory symptoms. In this scoping review, we report environmental chemicals, prioritized for investigation in the European Human Biomonitoring Initiative (HBM4EU), which are associated or possibly associated with asthma. The substance groups considered to cause asthma through specific sensitization include: diisocyanates, hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) and possibly p-phenylenediamine (p-PDA). In epidemiological studies, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organophosphate insecticides are associated with asthma, and phthalates, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), pyrethroid insecticides, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead are only potentially associated with asthma. As a conclusion, exposure to PAHs and some pesticides are associated with increased risk of asthma. Diisocyanates and Cr(VI) cause asthma with specific sensitization. For many environmental chemicals, current studies have provided contradicting results in relation to increased risk of asthma. Therefore, more research about exposure to environmental chemicals and risk of asthma is needed.

Keywords: asthma; environmental chemicals; exposure; HBM4EU; occupation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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