Environmental Health in Urbanised Arid Regions: Assessing the Effects of Natural Dust and Anthropogenic Pollution on Pulmonary and Cardiovascular Functions

Air pollution is one of the most important components of environmental health risks worldwide accounting for more than 1 in 8 deaths globally. Quantifying the health impacts of air pollution can guide policies, reduce the burden of disease and save lives. This integrated HBKU multidisciplinary research project aims to investigate the acute impacts of dust and anthropogenic pollution on human health in urbanised arid regions focusing on respiratory, cardiovascular and inflammatory effects in healthy adults. It employs an established randomised two-way exposure crossover study design to investigate and compare the acute (short term) respiratory and cardiovascular effects of environmental exposure of healthy adult volunteers in two environmentally distinct regions in Qatar (background desert vs. urban background locations). Dust and air pollution samples will be collected at the same locations on the days of exposure and used for toxicology assessment on lung and cardiovascular cell lines. The novelty of is project stems from its regional and local relevance, which is subject to intense photochemical reaction processes, as well the relatively higher levels of particulate matter pollution due to the natural dust background.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)