January 11th 2024
Great Ormond Street to examine indoor air pollution before diagnosing illnesses
In a new pilot scheme, medical experts at the hospital are being urged to consider air pollution in people’s homes when analysing the cause of an illness.
Created by Mark Hayden, an intensive care staff member at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the programme has been designed in response to criticisms that emerged after the death of Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, who tragically became the first person in the UK to have air pollution listed as their cause of death.
Philip Barlow, the coroner who worked on the inquest of Ella’s death, noted that her mother, Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, ‘was not given information about the health risks of air pollution and its potential to exacerbate asthma.’
Against this backdrop, Barlow warned that the adverse effects of air pollution on health were not being communicated to patients and their carers by medical professionals. Now, data showing the average annual air pollution rates at patients’ postcodes has been embedded into patients’ files.
The pilot model, which was also created by Nicola Wilson and Johanna Andersson who are colleagues of Mark Hayden, has recently been adopted by the Evelina children’s hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College hospitals in London, meaning air pollution is now visible on more than 2.5 million patients’ files.
At the hospital, air pollution levels only flag up as causes for concern in people’s homes if they exceed the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines which were set in 2021.
In response to the new scheme, Andrew Turnbull, a consultant respiratory paediatrician, said: ‘We’ve had a long understanding of the robust links between poor air quality and adverse outcomes, but getting data at this level is new.’
As the majority of families in the UK are currently struggling finically as a result of the cost-of0living crisis, many do not have the option to move to less polluted areas, making this new programme important, now more than ever.
When it comes to respiratory illnesses, many of them have multifactorial causes, which makes linking the cause of them to one problem difficult. Although, Mark Hayden said he hopes the new pilot scheme will be introduced on a wider spectrum, including in GP practices.
Hayden added: ‘It does bring up dilemmas, because it would feel wrong to place that problem on a family that can’t do anything about it, but we’re trying give clinicians the resources they need to have that conversation with families who can then use that information to try to protect their children from further harm.’
Image: Marcin Jozwiak
Long term air pollution exposure leads to a weak immune system