Reconstructing four decades of spatio-temporal airborne pollen levels for Belgium to assess the health impact (R-10855)

The overall objective of this proposal (RETROPOLLEN) is to assess public health effects of birch and grass airborne pollen levels in relation to surface air pollution and climate change using up to four decades of historical observations. This requires (i) reconstructing the spatio-temporal distributions of airborne pollen using the CTM SILAM ingesting ECMWF's (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts) reanalysed meteorological datasets and four decades of land-use and land-use change data estimated from the heritage of long time series of vegetation indices derived from satellite remote sensing platforms such as NOAA-AVHRR and its successors. Furthermore, it requires (ii) making available and compiling historical datasets on airborne allergic pollen observations (from 1982 on), medical data on patients suffering from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases including rhinitis and asthma (Erasme Hospital-ULB from 1998 on; Zeepreventorium from late 1980s on; patient data details see section 3.1. on Methodology and section 3.3. on Data), mortality rates (from 1987 on), surface air pollution data (from the 1990s on) from regional networks, and ECMWF and inhouse meteorological data. (iii) Evaluating and understanding the impact of co-exposure to these biogenic particles with anthropogenic air pollutants on the allergic population health based on statistical health and epidemiology models. Ultimately, a robust forecast model for pollen levels and new insights for prevention measures against pollinosis in Belgium are aimed at which could lead to the development of a pollen app for Belgium including new insights in the critical allergy threshold of pollen levels.

Keywords:Air pollution, airborne pollen levels, Health impact

Disciplines:Epidemiology

Project type:Collaboration project