Development of a prediction system to forecast air quality and the risk of interstitial lung diseases in Southeast Asia

Development of a prediction system to forecast air quality and the risk of interstitial lung diseases in Southeast Asia

Air pollution is reported to cause adverse burdens on human health and has become one of the critical environmental problems worldwide. Medical data show that the total number and incidence rate of mortality due to Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILDs) have been clearly increasing in the recent two decades. Despite the serious air pollution and large population in this region, none of the studies assessing how and how much air pollution contributes to this increasing trend of ILD in Southeast Asia. This proposed work aims to assess the association between interstitial lung diseases and air pollutants in Southeast Asia, to understand the air quality characteristics at different temporal characteristics at surface and upper atmospheric boundary layer, and hence to develop a prediction model system to forecast air quality and the risk of interstitial lung diseases in Southeast Asia.