Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Measuring Carbon Content in Airway Macrophages Exposed to Carbon-Containing Particulate Matters
Published on: July 12, 2024
Climate change and respiratory health
Daniel A Gerardi1, Roy A Kellerman
1From the Occupational Lung Disease (Dr Gerardi), Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Hartford, and University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Conn; and Department of Internal Medicine (Dr Kellerman), University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, Conn.
Objective:
To discuss the nature of climate change and both its immediate and long-term effects on human respiratory health.
Methods:
This review is based on information from a presentation of the American College of Chest Physicians course on Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease held in Toronto, Canada, June 2013. It is supplemented by a PubMed search for climate change, global warming, respiratory tract diseases, and respiratory health. It is also supplemented by a search of Web sites including the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, World Meteorological Association, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, and the World Health Organization.
Results:
Health effects of climate change include an increase in the prevalence of certain respiratory diseases, exacerbations of chronic lung disease, premature mortality, allergic responses, and declines in lung function.
Conclusions:
Climate change, mediated by greenhouse gases, causes adverse health effects to the most vulnerable patient populations-the elderly, children, and those in distressed socioeconomic strata.
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