title: Some current challenges in research on air pollution and health.
abstract: This commentary addresses some of the diverse questions of current interest with regard to the health effects of air pollution, including exposure-response relationships, toxicity of inhaled particles and risks to health, multipollutant mixtures, traffic-related pollution, accountability research, and issues with susceptibility and vulnerability. It considers the challenges posed to researchers as they attempt to provide useful evidence for policy-makers relevant to these issues. This commentary accompanies papers giving the results from the ESCALA project, a multi-city study in Latin America that has an overall goal of providing policy-relevant results. While progress has been made in improving air quality, driven by epidemiological evidence that air pollution is adversely affecting public health, the research questions have become more subtle and challenging as levels of air pollution dropped. More research is still needed, but also novel methods and approaches to address these new questions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, USC Institute for Global Health, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, Estados Unidos de América.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Samet
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000009:adverse effects; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004782:Environmental Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D005544:Forecasting; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000009:adverse effects; D012106:Research / Q000639:trends*; D014504:Urban Health; D001335:Vehicle Emissions; D035862:Vulnerable Populations
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D001335:Vehicle Emissions