The impact of air pollution on human health

In this thesis the impact of air pollution on human health was studied. In this light, the
spatiotemporal characterization of gas phase compounds in thirty-three sites in Greece
was performed, during a one-year period as well as the determination of organic
compounds (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and their Hydroxylated derivatives) and
metals/metalloids in the serum of patients with hematological and cardiovascular
diseases. Gas phase compounds as well as the organic compounds in human blood
serum were determined with the use of Gas Chromatography coupled to Mass
Spectrometry while the determination of metals/metalloids in the serum was performed
inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. Subsequently, a method was developed for
the determination of Aminopolycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, biomarkers of exposure
to air pollutants, in urine samples was performed by liquid chromatography coupled to a
quadrupole mass spectrometer with quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry. Τhe
statistical analysis of the results, regarding the levels of gaseous pollutants, indicates
the significant degradation of the air quality, especially during the cold months, while
through the use of computational methods, the risk assessment of these pollutants was
estimated, with the lifetime cancer risk values exceeding, in several cases, the
proposed limits of WHO and USEPA. Significant variations of the analytes’ levels were
observed both in the serum of patients with leukemia and in those with cardiovascular
disease compared to the corresponding healthy donors, with the habit of smoking and
residence are being a crucial factor in the abundance of analytes patients’ serum.
Finally, the application of the method for the determination of urinary aminopolycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons in samples collected from the general population, indicated a
significant abundance of these compounds, with the smoking habit appearing to
significantly affect the levels of 2-naphthylamine and 1-aminopyrne in the human