Climate change and air pollution

e observational evidence indicates that recent regional changes in climate, particularly temperature increases, have already a ected a diverse set of physical and biological systems in many parts of the world. Allergens patterns are also changing in response to climate change and air pollution can modify the allergenic potential of pollen grains especially in the presence of speci c weather conditions. Although genetic factors are important in the development of asthma and allergic diseases, their rising trend can be explained only by changes occurring in the environment and urban air pollution by motor vehicles has been indicated as one of the major risk factors responsible for this increase. Despite some di erences in the air pollution pro-le and decreasing trends of some key air pollutants, air quality is an important concern for public health in the cities throughout the world. Due to climate change, air pollution patterns are changing in several urbanized areas of the world with a signi cant e ect on respiratory health. e underlying mechanisms of all these interactions are not well known yet. e consequences on health vary from decreases in lung function to allergic diseases , new onset of diseases, and exacerbation of chronic respiratory diseases. In addition, it is important to recall that an individual's response to pollution exposure depends on the source and components of air pollution, as well as meteorological conditions. Indeed, some air pollution-related incidents with asthma aggravation do not depend only on the increased production of air pollution, but rather on atmospheric factors that favor the accumulation of air pollutants at ground level. Associations between thunderstorms and asthma morbidity of pollinosis-a ected people have also been identi ed in multiple locations around the world (Fig. 1). A factor clouding the problem is that laboratory evaluations do not re ect what happens during natural exposition. Considering these aspects, governments worldwide , international organizations, and cooperations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Health Policy of the European Union (EU) are facing a growing problem of the respiratory e ects induced by gaseous and particulate pollutants arising from motor vehicle emissions. Climate change and air pollution – E ects on pollen allergy and other allergic respiratory diseases. Air pollution – respiratory allergy – airways hyper-responsiveness – bronchial asthma – environment – climate change