The "envirome" and what the practitioner needs to know about it

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health
• Immunology
• Allergy Research

Background:

• The
• envirome
• encompasses pollution, microbial, and social stressors that influence health.
• Allergic diseases, including asthma and atopic dermatitis, are increasingly prevalent.
• Early life environmental exposures are critical for immune system development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review the impact of environmental factors on the development and expression of allergic diseases.
• To synthesize current evidence on pollution, microbial exposures, and psychosocial stressors.
• To identify opportunities for primary prevention of allergic diseases.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of peer-reviewed publications indexed in PubMed.
• Search strategy included asthma, atopic dermatitis, and immunoglobulin E (IgE) cross-referenced with environmental factors.
• Emphasis on recent findings (past 5 years) with inclusion of seminal articles.

Main Results:

• Air pollution is a significant cause of allergic disease exacerbation and increases disease risk.
• Microbial exposures (e.g., farm, microbiome, infections) and psychosocial stressors modulate allergic disease.
• Early life exposures to these environmental factors critically impact allergic disease development.

Conclusions:

• Nonallergenic environmental factors are crucial modulators in allergic disease development.
• Early life is a critical window for environmental influences on allergies.
• Interventions targeting early life environmental factors present a significant opportunity for primary allergy prevention.