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A framework for examining social stress and susceptibility to air pollution in respiratory health
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

A framework for examining social stress and susceptibility to air pollution in respiratory health

Jane Ellen Clougherty and Laura Diane Kubzansky
Ciência & saude coletiva, v 15(4), pp 2059-2074
01 Jul 2010
PMID: 20694328
url
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/csc/v15n4/a20v15n4.pdfView
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open
url
https://doi.org/10.1590/S1413-81232010000400020View
Published, Version of Record (VoR) Open

Abstract

Life Sciences & Biomedicine Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Science & Technology
There is growing interest in disentangling the health effects of spatially clustered social and physical environmental exposures and in exploring potential synergies among them, with particular attention directed to the combined effects of psychosocial stress and air pollution. Both exposures may be elevated in lower-income urban communities, and it has been hypothesized that stress, which can influence immune function and susceptibility, may potentiate the effects of air pol-lution in respiratory disease onset and exacerbation. In this paper, we review the existing epidemiologic and toxicologic evidence on synergistic effects of stress and pollution, and describe the physiologic effects of stress and key issues related to measuring and evaluating stress as it relates to physical environmental exposures and susceptibility. Finally, we identify some of the major methodologic challenges ahead as we work toward disentangling the health effects of clustered social and physical exposures and accurately describing the interplay among these exposures. As this research proceeds, we recommend careful attention to the relative temporalities of stress and pollution exposures, to non-linearities in their independent and combined effects, to physiologic pathways not elucidated by epidemiologic methods, and to the relative spatial distributions of social and physical exposures at multiple geographic scales.

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11 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

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Web of Science research areas
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
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