{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,1]],"date-time":"2025-12-01T06:37:44Z","timestamp":1764571064557,"version":"3.40.5"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1668643200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Next Generation EU","award":["B83C22002930006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["B83C22002930006"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Modern society grew rapidly over the last few decades and this led to an alarming increase in air pollutants and a worsening of the human health, especially in relation to the respiratory system. Indeed, chronic respiratory diseases were the third main cause of death in 2017, with over 3 million of deaths. Furthermore, the pollution has considerable consequences both for burden medical expenses and environmental. However, the mechanisms linking pollutants to the onset of these diseases remain unclear. Thus, in this study we addressed this problem through the United Kingdom BioBank database, analyzing 170 genome-wide association studies (103 related to respiratory diseases and 67 related to pollutants). We analyzed the genetic correlations and causal relationships of these traits, leveraging the summary statistics and bioinformatics packages such as Linkage Disequilibrium Score Regression and Latent Causal Variable. We obtained 158 significant genetic correlations and subsequently we analyzed them through the Latent Causal Variable analysis, obtaining 20 significant causal relationships. The most significant were between \"Workplace full of chemicals or other fumes: Sometimes\" and \u201cCondition that has ever been diagnosed by a doctor: Asthma\u201d and between \u201cWorkplace very dusty: Sometimes\u201d and \u201cCondition that has ever been diagnosed by a doctor: Emphysema or chronic bronchitis\u201d. Finally, we identified single nucleotide polymorphisms independently associated with sveral pollutants to analyze the genes and pathways that could be involved in the onset of the aforementioned respiratory system disorders and that could be useful clinical target. This study highlighted how crucial are the air condition of the working environments and the type of transport used in the onset of respiratory-related morbidity. Based on that, we also suggested some interventions, in order to improve quality life and develop new and eco-friendly society and life style, such as improving indoor air circulation, the use of public transport and urban reforestation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0277235","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]],"date-time":"2022-11-17T18:35:43Z","timestamp":1668710143000},"page":"e0277235","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Consequences of exposure to pollutants on respiratory health: From genetic correlations to causal relationships"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1283-8789","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Salvatore","family":"D\u2019Antona","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Isabella","family":"Castiglioni","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Danilo","family":"Porro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5540-4104","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Claudia","family":"Cava","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,11,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0277235.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"585","DOI":"10.1016\/S2213-2600(20)30105-3","article-title":"Prevalence and attributable health burden of chronic respiratory diseases, 1990\u20132017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017","volume":"8","author":"GBD Chronic Respiratory Disease Collaborators","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet Respir Med"},{"issue":"9919","key":"pone.0277235.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"785","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(13)62158-3","article-title":"Effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on natural-cause mortality: an analysis of 22 European cohorts within the multicentre ESCAPE project","volume":"383","author":"R Beelen","year":"2014","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0277235.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1007\/s11739-015-1276-7","article-title":"Effects on health of air pollution: a narrative review","volume":"10","author":"PM Mannucci","year":"2015","journal-title":"Intern Emerg Med"},{"key":"pone.0277235.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"390","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2013.01.077","article-title":"Assessing the public health impacts of urban air pollution in 25 European cities: results of the Aphekom project","volume":"449","author":"M Pascal","year":"2013","journal-title":"Sci Total Environ"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0277235.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"709","DOI":"10.1080\/10473289.2006.10464485","article-title":"Health effects of fine particulate air pollution: lines that connect","volume":"56","author":"CA Pope","year":"2006","journal-title":"J Air Waste Manag Assoc"},{"issue":"5","key":"pone.0277235.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"385","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.1923.02650050039014","article-title":"HEALTH HAZARD FROM AUTOMOBILE EXHAUST GAS IN CITY STREETS, GARAGES AND REPAIR SHOPS: THE VERTICAL EXHAUST AS A PRACTICAL MEASURE OF AMELIORATION","volume":"81","author":"Y HENDERSON","year":"1923","journal-title":"Journal of the American Medical Association"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0277235.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.3390\/s22041578","article-title":"The Prototype Monitoring System for Pollution Sensing and Online Visualization with the Use of a UAV and a WebRTC-Based Platform","volume":"22","author":"A Chodorek","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sensors (Basel)"},{"key":"pone.0277235.ref008","first-page":"492","article-title":"Air quality guidelines: Global update 2005, Particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide","volume":"126","author":"SK Jindal","year":"2007","journal-title":"Indian Journal of Medical Research"},{"key":"pone.0277235.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mokrani H, Lounas R, Bennai MT, Salhi DE, Djerbi R, editors. 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