In the days when air quality leaves sensitive persons to be desirable, they may experience exacerbations of their chronic diseases. There are some tips to keep in mind. “The air has reached a high level of pollution and is not healthy for groups of sensitive persons. Reduce time spent if you feel difficulty breathing or irritation of the neck ”is the warning of the ACCU Weather platform, launched on Thursday, May 22, 2025, for the inhabitants of Bucharest.
In the hours with heavy traffic the quality of the air decreases photo: archive
The problem parameter is nitrogen dioxide (NO2). “Inhalation of high levels of nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of respiratory problems. Cough and respiratory difficulty are common symptoms and a longer exposure can cause more serious health problems.”Accu Weather also indicates.
The parameters can change from one hour to another, and these changes should be known by the categories of people who face conditions such as asthma, COPD, those with chronic treatment for respiratory diseases. The information helps on the one hand to avoid exposure in the range of high pollutants, and on the other hand they can guide them to determine when it is the safest to ventilate the rooms.
“Nitrogen dioxide is a particle pollute which particularly affects the airways and produces in the respiratory mucosa inflammation, so it causes risk of acuteization of all chronic conditions, whether we are talking about asthma, BBPOC, bronchIectasis. Patients who know each other and have chronic respiratory treatment should be a little more cautious these days ”, warns the pneumologist at the “Marius Nasta” Institute of Pneumology, Beatrice Mahler.
In such situations, explains the doctor, first of all, patients should use the treatment they have from the doctor with great rigor. “To administer their medication and if somehow they have to get out of the house and the atmosphere is loaded, to have the backup medication, ie the inhalation medication that is used when the respiratory difficulty increases. They must have the medication with them,” adds Dr. Mahler.
They must also pay attention to infectious respiratory exacerbation, “Which can be installed much easier on this inflammatory ground, but this will not appear these days, but may occur 2-3 days after the air quality improves.” “The attention and care towards the body must remain present in the following days”, adds the doctor.
The risk of acid rains
If over the increase of the values of the pollutants in the atmosphere, the rains are added, the risk will also be transferred in terms of soil quality.
“What we know about these substances is that if these days it rains and the amount of nitrogen increases in the atmosphere, they can defend acid rains and then things go not only in the air pollution area, but also to the soil pollution area, the water, so things are a little more varied, and the impact is not only on the body, but what is indirect, but what is indirect, but what is indirect, says the doctor.
Following values using platforms can be of great help Photo: Accu Weather source
On the other hand, on the quality of the air in the house we can intervene, as opposed to the outside air. Air purifiers are from this point of view a solution for people at risk.
“It would be a good solution to use the devices that purify the air in the house, if people have them. It is also good to get used to monitoring, to see what happens on the air quality monitoring stations, because there are some variations during the day or from day to day ”, The doctor is still drawing attention. Monitoring the variations of the concentrations of pollutants in the atmosphere will help us to establish at what time interval it is more appropriate to ventilate the rooms. Usually, NO2 concentrations increase in hourly intervals with heavy traffic.
It is important, as we mentioned from the beginning, that patients at risk rigorously follow the treatment.
Reducing treatment doses, only at the doctor’s advice
Asthatic who control their symptoms very well following the prescribed treatment could be tempted to give up or reduce doses, during periods when things are going very well. The advice of the doctor Beatrice Mahler is that to reduce the dose of treatment to contact the attending physician with whom they are certainly related.
“Unlike other respiratory conditions, asthma is a condition that, with treatment, can reach a normal pulmonary function. However, when the pulmonary function is normal, the body does not feel the need for additional medication. And this effect can take a few weeks. In fact, the treatment of asthma is in steps. That is, we have the opportunity to increase the dose of medicines and decrease it in a patient who is well, but this decrease and growth is done by the doctor or together, always, with the doctor. We can get to have a patient who has been with asthma for many years and know how to manage his additional medication algorithm, or when he can reduce. But, as a rule, when you do step down, that is, when you reduce the amount of cortisone you give, you must have a discussion with your pneumologist because the risk of exacerbation exists if you reduce too quickly. The respiratory mucosa heals over time ”the doctor said.
The periods in which the concentration of pollutants is high can also be superimposed with the allergic season, which further worsens the situation of sensitive patients, who may be difficult for them to figure out what is the source of the worrying symptoms. “An allergic patient, when the level of pollution increases, will feel much worse than a patient who does not have an allergy and is a period when the level of pollution increases.”says the doctor.
The advice for patients who have chronic respiratory disorders is to ask their doctor (if they have not already done so or if the doctor has not initiated this discussion) who have to do in situations with potential to aggravate the symptoms.
“The doctor-patient relationship must be a partnership, and if we talk about chronic diseases, it must be a partnership in which we help, we help the patient to understand his disease and to be able to manage, until a certain time, the general condition changes. Because that’s how you manage to make that patient have a good quality of life. If he has exacerbation and does not know what to do and wait for the programming to consult, and we do not educate him during the consultation with the step he has to do, if he begins to cough, for example, if he begins to whistle, until he reaches the cabinet, the patient will lose his confidence, he will look for another doctor, he will look for another solution for him, “ concluded the doctor.
