Epidemiological Evidence for Aggravation and Promotion of COPD by Acid Air Pollution

摘要

The chapter discusses epidemiologic evidence for the role of acidic aerosols in the development and exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The hypothesis that sulfuric acid was the most important component of the mix of pollutants responsible for classic air pollution episodes was first proposed more than 50 years ago. However, analyses of these episodes and more recent epidemiologic studies of lower level exposures are suggestive but not conclusive, primarily because of the limitations in technology available for measuring exposure.