RESPIRAMI - Recent Advances on Air Pollution and Health

RATIONAL

Reducing the incidence and prevalence of modifiable risk factors of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) is a critical endeavor to address the global burden of these ailments that claim several million lives per year, and to foster effective primary and secondary prevention initiatives. 

Among these risk factors, air pollution is one of the most important, owing to its ubiquitous environmental and household exposure in both low- high-income countries. 

In addition, heat exposure and traffic noise represent further environmental risk factors. 

With this background, in collaboration with the Environmental Research Group (ERG) at Imperial College London, UK, we are organizing for the sixth time the International Seminar “RespiraMi”, which will take place on 2-3 March 2026 in Milan, Italy. 

An impressive faculty of experts will present the most recent data arising from research carried out in the last few years and thus update current knowledge and highlight recent progress. 

In the first session of the Seminar, the NCD burden caused by air pollution will be related to the economic costs as well as to the broad economic assessment of the effects on health of these environmental risk factors. 

Subsequently the first day of the Seminar will update on specific diseases adversely affected by air pollution: on the mechanisms of the adverse cardiovascular outcomes (CVDs) but also on the novel clinical consensus statement recently released by the European Society of Cardiology. 

Next, there will be insights and discussion on the basic mechanisms linking air pollution to neurological and mental disorders, with special emphasis on neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and motor neuron diseases. 

The important issue of adverse birth outcomes will be dealt with by investigating the relationship between gestational exposure to air pollution and these outcomes, with an overview of the related mechanisms. 

Within the first day of the seminar, there will also be the evaluation of new data on the impact of non-exhaust emissions on asthma, as well as a report on new insights into the health impact of indoor air pollution, a topic less frequently tackled than outdoor ambient air pollution. 

The last session of the first day will deal with the important unsolved problem of exposure to nano– and microplastic particles, assessing he role of airborne particles and fibres, as well as reviewing the current evidence available on their effects on human health. 

In the second day of the Seminar, the first part of the program will deal with recent research carried out in Italy and elsewhere,. 

and presented by participants on the selected posters. 

Next, there will be an important session dealing with the methodological challenges inherent to the evaluation of the independent and joint effects of the exposome on human health, with emphasis on exposure measurement errors, their determinants, and correction methods. 

The issue of urban health will be dealt with by reviewing the effects of traffic noise on human health and how ongoing trends in urban planning may help improve environmental health by reducing traffic and increasing urban green areas. 

After a panel discussion addressing lessons learned from the Seminar, related plans and perspectives, the Seminar will close with an important session on policy, with specific topics such as air pollution inequalities in Europe, science policy summary from the WHO, as well as the issue of the slow progress with many “stop and go” of the Green Deal in the European Union. 

The afternoon of the second day, the seminar will end with a demonstration of how a few cities are in the vanguard against air pollution, presented as a conversation between the Imperial College London and representatives of theC40 cities that are developing inclusive climate and environment actions. 

Throughout the seminar, the posters submitted by the participants will be on display. 

Francesco Forastiere

Sergio A. Harari

Klea Katsouyanni

Michal Krzyzanowski

Pier Mannuccio Mannucci