Global impact of paper on air pollution and health
The number of times a research study is referred to by other scientists in their work is one of the key indicators we currently use to gauge the impact of scientific findings. A paper published in 1995 in the Lancet by Professor Anthony Seaton and his colleagues has just received its 1,000th citation as it continues to have a major influence on our thinking about the health effects of fine particles throughout the scientific world (1). To put this achievement in perspective only about 1 in every 10,000 papers published about air pollution achieves this level of recognition.
Anthony Seaton and David Godden from the University of Aberdeen joined forces with William MacNee of the University of Edinburgh and Ken Donaldson from Napier University to write the paper that brought together their thoughts on how the inhalation of fine particulate matter caused ill-health. They suggested a possible explanation for the observation that air pollution events cause deaths from heart attacks and strokes in addition to the well-understood respiratory illnesses like asthma attacks. Their hypothesis was that very small or ultrafine particles may cause inflammation in the lungs, which in turn causes a release of the body's own chemicals to fight the inflammation and a consequent increase in the stickiness of the blood. This increase in blood stickiness leads to a greater risk of heart attack and stroke. Their work was also the first to suggest that the health effects of exposure to fine particles may be more closely linked to the number of particles in the air rather than the mass or weight of particulate, which had traditionally been measured in most previous studies. Many years before the start of the current scientific interest in possible risks from nanotechnlogy this paper also importantly suggested that the very smallest particles may behave differently when inhaled and cause toxic health effects where a similar larger sized particle may have no such impact. In their conclusions the authors laid down an important gauntlet. They stated that their hypothesis could be tested among human populations, by investigating relationships between blood stickiness and changes in the concentration of particulate air pollution; and experimentally by studying the airspace inflammation induced by very small particles and their effects on chemical release and blood coagulation factors. Many of the 1000 citations the paper has received around the globe since then have been from research carried out that demonstrate that their hypothesis holds true at both of these levels. Professors Seaton and Donaldson, two of the original authors of this important work, now both hold honorary positions at the IOM and continue to contribute their wealth of experience to the research activity of the institute. Much of the IOM's work on nanomaterials and our current studies on indoor air pollution and health have been shaped by the thinking that emerged from this seminal paper. We congratulate the authors on this important achievement.(1) Particulate air pollution and acute health effects. Seaton A, MacNee W, Donaldson K, Godden D. Lancet. 1995 Jan 21;345(8943):176-8.