Exposição à poluição ambiental e a saúde dos brasileiros: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

It is estimated that 12.6 million deaths annually are attributed to environmental factors worldwide. Despite Brazil has been facing several environmental problems, it is not known how this exposure has impacted the population health in general, throughout the national territory, in recent years. In this context, this study aimed to conduct a systematic review of studies developed in Brazil, between 2015 and 2019, which have addressed the relationship between exposure to environmental pollution and the population health. The methodology involved the formulation of the research question to be explored, the definition of the eligibility criteria, the search for potential eligible studies in electronic bibliographic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, LILACS and Medline/Pubmed), the assessment of eligibility and the extraction and analysis of data from the articles. The analyzed information comprised the type of pollution, the year of publication, the Brazilian macro-region in which the study was developed, the pollution sources, characteristics of the investigated population and the authors' affiliation. For each type of pollution, it was also examined the exposure measurement, the type and source of the data; the observed health impact; the health status measurement, type and source of the data. A total of 98 articles were included in this review, with 57.14% addressing air pollution. The other articles explored health impacts resulting from exposure to water or noise pollution, pesticide and toxic metal. The number of articles published per year varied between 16 and 24. Most studies were carried out in the Southeast region and 86.7% of them were developed and published by at least one author linked to a brazilian public institution of higher education. Regarding the population, it was analyzed residents of the study site regardless of age, only children and / or newborns, only the elderly or individuals of other specific age groups. Several exposure measures were observed, among them, concentration of environmental pollutants, biomonitoring and information on the environmental aspects and impacts of the study region. The health effects explored covered several diseases and symptoms. The health status measurement was based on changes in examinations and tests, assessment of risk perception, attendance, hospitalizations and deaths records resulting from the investigated disease and others. The findings of this study highlighted how the impacts of environmental pollution on public health are being faced in Brazil, providing useful information for decision-making of environmental and health managers.