Climate change and respiratory allergic diseases | Cambiamenti climatici e possibili effetti sulle malattie allergiche respiratorie

It is now widely accepted that earth's temperature is increasing, and that changes are also occurring in the amount, intensity, frequency and type of precipitation and in occurrence of extreme events, like heat waves, droughts and floods. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and its atmospheric concentration has increased since the pre-industrial era and same trend occurred for the other prevalent anthropogenic greenhouse gases. These major changes involving the atmosphere and the climate have impact on the biosphere and human environment as shown by the effects on cardiovascular mortality, respiratoryillnesses due to heatwaves, the altered transmission of infectious diseases and malnutrition from crop failures. Studies on the effects of climate changes on respiratory allergy are still lacking and current knowledge is provided by epidemiological and experimental studies on the relationship between asthma and environmental factors, like meteorological variables, airborne allergens and air pollution. Meteorological factors (temperature, wind speed, humidity, etc) along with their climatological regimes (warm or cold anomalies and dry or wet periods, etc.), can affect both biological and chemical components of the environmental factors which affect respiratory allergy. However, weather variables and especially air temperature can also act on airways directly. To conclude, climate change might induce negative effects on respiratory allergic diseases. However, further and specifically designed studies are needed to clarify this issue and the creation of multidisciplinary research teams and the support of environmental monitoring should be the first step.