NEW DELHI: A day after a report claimed that air pollution had reduced the life expectancy of residents of the national capital, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) launched a project to study the effects of air pollution on public health.
The study has been titled DAPHNE (Delhi Air Pollution Health and Effects) and AIIMS researchers have developed an air pollution sensor technology for it. DAPHNE is being funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, and Medical Research Council, Britain. In India, apart from AIIMS, Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, IIT Delhi and GTB Hospital are associated with the project.
“Delhi’s air quality deteriorates every year during Diwali owing to multiple reasons such as stubble burning and bursting of crackers. However, last year, when the air pollution level escalated, we noticed a surge in patients visiting AIIMS,” said Dr Karan Madan, Associate Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders.
Owing to this phenomenon, the country’s premier health institute decided to conduct the project.
“This sort of study has not been earlier conducted in India. The device has been developed in a belt format, which is very light, and it gives clear, continuous pollution data. The belt can be wrapped around the waist or the arms,” Madan said.
The device is wireless and directly sends data to a monitoring system through a Global Positioning System (GPS). In the study, AIIMS is primarily focusing on children suffering from pulmonary diseases such as asthma, bronchitis and other breathing disorders, as well as pregnant women.
“On pregnant women, we are trying to see how pollution might affect the unborn child. We are also trying to figure out the birth rate issue from this study owing to poor air quality,” the pulmonologist said, and added that data on children would be collected at AIIMS and that on pregnant women would be collected at GTB Hospital.Madan said that the study would be completed next year and a report would be released upon its completion.
Device to track effect on asthmatics
A wearable sensor in the form of a belt that will be given to children as part of the study will continuously measure the level of air pollution while they are in school, at home or travelling in a bus. The device will identify the degree of exposure and its effect on the health of children suffering from asthma.