Indoor Air Quality in Elderly Centers: Pollutants Emission and Health Effects

The world population is ageing, in particular in the developed world, with a significant increase in the percentage of people above 60 years old. They represent a segment of the population that is more vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions. Among them, indoor air quality is one of the most...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironments (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 9; no. 7; p. 86
Main Authors Mata, Teresa M., Felgueiras, Fátima, Martins, António A., Monteiro, Helena, Ferraz, Maria Pia, Oliveira, Gisela M., Gabriel, Marta Fonseca, Silva, Gabriela Ventura
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.07.2022
Subjects
Aging
Air pollution
Air quality
COVID-19
elderly care centers
Emissions control
Environmental conditions
Geriatrics
health effects
Health problems
Indoor air pollution
Indoor air quality
Indoor environments
Morbidity
Older people
Outdoor air quality
Pandemics
Pollutants
pollutants emission sources
Pollution control
Pollution sources
State-of-the-art reviews
Thermal comfort
Ventilation
World population
Portugal
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The world population is ageing, in particular in the developed world, with a significant increase in the percentage of people above 60 years old. They represent a segment of the population that is more vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions. Among them, indoor air quality is one of the most relevant, as elders spend comparatively more time indoors than younger generations. Furthermore, the recent COVID-19 pandemic contributed immensely to raising awareness of the importance of breathing air quality for human health and of the fact that indoor air is a vector for airborne infections and poisoning. Hence, this work reviews the state of the art regarding indoor air quality in elderly centers, considering the type of pollutants involved, their emission sources, and their health effects. Moreover, the influence of ventilation on air quality is also addressed. Notwithstanding the potential health problems with the corresponding costs and morbidity effects, only a few studies have considered explicitly indoor air quality and its impacts on elderly health. More studies are, therefore, necessary to objectively identify what are the impacts on the health of elderly people due to the quality of indoor air and how it can be improved, either by reducing the pollutants emission sources or by more adequate ventilation and thermal comfort strategies.
ISSN:2076-3298
2076-3298
DOI:10.3390/environments9070086