Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Environmental Health Perspectives logoLink to Environmental Health Perspectives
. 1983 Oct;52:177–182. doi: 10.1289/ehp.8352177

What is an adverse health effect?

R P Sherwin
PMCID: PMC1569343  PMID: 6653520

Abstract

Health is defined as homeostasis of the cellular ecology, and a state where there has not been an inordinate loss, reversible or irreversible, of the structural and/or functional reserves of the body. An adverse health effect is defined as the causation, promotion, facilitation and/or exacerbation of a structural and/or functional abnormality, with the implication that the abnormality produced has the potential of lowering the quality of life, contributing to a disabling illness, or leading to a premature death. Experimental animal studies indicate that poor air quality has the potential for serious adverse health effects through perturbations of the cellular ecology over long-term periods. Some of the most important concerns are inordinate depletions of lung reserves (in particular, emphysema), the facilitation of cancer metastasis to the lung, the facilitation of immunologic deficits with the concomitant expression of opportunistic organisms, and amplification of cardiovascular abnormalities (in particular, ischemic heart disease). It is argued that air quality standard setting should more strongly consider adverse health effects that are presently subclinical in nature in order to achieve early prevention instead of late correction.

Full text

PDF
177

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. BALCHUM O. J., FELTON J. S., JAMISON J. N., GAINES R. S., CLARKE D. R., OWAN T. A survey for chronic respiratory disease in an industrial city. Preliminary results. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1962 Nov;86:675–685. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1962.86.5.675. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bhagavan B. S., Koss L. G. Secular trends in prevalence and concentration of pulmonary asbestos bodies--1940 to 1972. A necropsy study. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1976 Oct;100(10):539–541. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brambilla C., Abraham J., Brambilla E., Benirschke K., Bloor C. Comparative pathology of silicate pneumoconiosis. Am J Pathol. 1979 Jul;96(1):149–170. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Briggs R. C. Quality of death certificate as compared to autopsy findings. Ariz Med. 1975 Aug;32(8):617–619. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Callahan Daniel. Health and society: some ethical imperatives. Daedalus. 1977 Winter;106(1):23–33. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Colvez A., Blanchet M. Disability trends in the United States population 1966-76: analysis of reported causes. Am J Public Health. 1981 May;71(5):464–471. doi: 10.2105/ajph.71.5.464. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Dondero T. J., Jr, Rendtorff R. C., Mallison G. F., Weeks R. M., Levy J. S., Wong E. W., Schaffner W. An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease associated with a contaminated air-conditioning cooling tower. N Engl J Med. 1980 Feb 14;302(7):365–370. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198002143020703. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. ENOS W. F., HOLMES R. H., BEYER J. Coronary disease among United States soldiers killed in action in Korea; preliminary report. J Am Med Assoc. 1953 Jul 18;152(12):1090–1093. doi: 10.1001/jama.1953.03690120006002. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Ehrlich R., Findlay J. C., Gardner D. E. Effects of repeated exposures to peak concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and ozone on resistance to streptococcal pneumonia. J Toxicol Environ Health. 1979 Jul;5(4):631–642. doi: 10.1080/15287397909529775. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fries J. F. Aging, natural death, and the compression of morbidity. N Engl J Med. 1980 Jul 17;303(3):130–135. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198007173030304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Graboys T. B. The economics of screening joggers. N Engl J Med. 1979 Nov 8;301(19):1067–1067. doi: 10.1056/NEJM197911083011922. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Heinemann H. O., Ryan J. W., Ryan U. S. Is the lung a para-endocrine organ? Am J Med. 1977 Oct;63(4):595–603. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(77)90205-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kuraitis K. V., Richters A., Sherwin R. P. Spleen changes in animals inhaling ambient levels of nitrogen dioxide. J Toxicol Environ Health. 1981 Jun;7(6):851–859. doi: 10.1080/15287398109530028. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Lebowitz M. D., Knudson R. J., Burrows B. Tucson epidemiologic study of obstructive lung diseases. I: Methodology and prevalence of disease. Am J Epidemiol. 1975 Aug;102(2):137–152. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112141. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. McGinnis J. M. Sounding board. Recent health gains for adults. N Engl J Med. 1982 Mar 18;306(11):671–673. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198203183061111. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. McNamara J. J., Molot M. A., Stremple J. F., Cutting R. T. Coronary artery disease in combat casualties in Vietnam. JAMA. 1971 May 17;216(7):1185–1187. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Mitchell R. S., Walker S. H., Silvers G. W., Dart G., Maisel J. C. The causes of death in chronic airway obstruction. I. The unreliability of death certificates and routine autopsies. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1968 Oct;98(4):601–610. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1968.98.4.601. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Richters V., Elliott G., Sherwin R. P. Influence of 0.5 ppm nitrogen dioxide exposure of mice of macrophage congregation in the lungs. In Vitro. 1978 May;14(5):458–464. doi: 10.1007/BF02616108. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Richters V., Sherwin R. P., Buckley R. D., Balchum O., Ivler D. Pseudomonas: delayed occurrence in lung tissue cultures from guinea pigs treated with tetracycline and exposed to nitrogen dioxide. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1966 Oct;94(4):569–573. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1966.94.4.569. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Roberts G. H., Scott K. W. A necropsy study of pulmonary emphysema in Glasgow. Thorax. 1972 Jan;27(1):28–32. doi: 10.1136/thx.27.1.28. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Roy-Burman P., Pattengale P. K., Sherwin R. P. Effect of low levels of nitrogen dioxide inhalation on endogenous retrovirus gene expression. Exp Mol Pathol. 1982 Apr;36(2):144–155. doi: 10.1016/0014-4800(82)90089-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sherwin R. P., Barman M. L., Abraham J. L. Silicate pneumoconiosis of farm workers. Lab Invest. 1979 May;40(5):576–582. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sherwin R. P. Emphysema: The "hole" truth. Arch Environ Health. 1970 Dec;21(6):699–702. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1970.10667320. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Sherwin R. P., Richters V. Hyperplasia of Type 2 pneumocytes following 0.34 ppm nitrogen dioxide exposure: quantitation by image analysis. Arch Environ Health. 1982 Sep-Oct;37(5):306–315. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1982.10667584. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Spain D. M., Siegel H., Bradess V. A. Emphysema in apparently healthy adults. Smoking, age, and sex. JAMA. 1973 Apr 16;224(3):322–325. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Stahl R. E., Friedman-Kien A., Dubin R., Marmor M., Zolla-Pazner S. Immunologic abnormalities in homosexual men. Relationship to Kaposi's sarcoma. Am J Med. 1982 Aug;73(2):171–178. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(82)90174-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Thurlbeck W. M., Dunnill M. S., Hartung W., Heard B. E., Heppleston A. G., Ryder R. C. A comparison of three methods of measuring emphysema. Hum Pathol. 1970 Jun;1(2):215–226. doi: 10.1016/s0046-8177(70)80035-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Thurlbeck W. M., Ryder R. C., Sternby N. A comparative study of the severity of emphysema in necropsy populations in three different countries. Am Rev Respir Dis. 1974 Feb;109(2):239–248. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1974.109.2.239. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Wheeler M. S. One resident's view of the autopsy. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1982 Jul;106(7):311–313. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Environmental Health Perspectives are provided here courtesy of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

RESOURCES