The DOI matches its Crossref record; 23 of the 24 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Health effects of desert dust and sand storms: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
Open accessAbstract
Introduction: Desert dust concentrations raise concerns about adverse effects on human health. During the last decade, special attention has been given to mineral dust particles from desert dust and sand storms. However, evidence from previous reviews reported inconclusive results on their health effects and the biological mechanism remains unclear. We aim to systematically synthesise evidence on the health effects of desert dust and sand storms accounting for the relevant desert dust patterns from source areas and emissions, transport and composition. Methods an analysis: We will conduct a systematic review that investigated the health effects of desert dust and sand storms in any population. The search will be performed for any eligible studies from previous reviews and selected electronic databases until 2018. Study selection and reporting will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Data from individual studies will be extracted using a standardised data extraction form. Quality of the studies will be assessed using a risk of bias tool for environmental exposures developed by experts convened by the WHO. A meta-analysis will be performed by calculating the appropriate effect measures of association for binary and continuous outcomes from individual studies. Subgroup analyses will be performed by geographical areas to account for desert dust patterns. Ethics and dissemination: No primary data will be collected. For this reason, no formal ethical approval is required. This systematic review will help to fill the research gaps in the knowledge of desert dust on human health. The results will be disseminated through a WHO peer-reviewed publication and a conference presentation. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42018091809
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“Mineral dust contributes to air pollution from particles with a diameter of 10 µm or less (PM10), exposure to which increases the risks of asthma, cardio-vascular disease, and premature death.133–135”
From The 2024 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: facing record-breaking threats from delayed action (2024) · cites this paper as [134]
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Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: the PRISMA statement
Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., Altman, D. G., & for the PRISMA Group (2009) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.b2535 · Cited by 83,823
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA Statement.
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Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta‐analysis
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“The quality of the evidence will be assessed using an adaptation for environmental studies, convened by the GDG for the AQGs, of the Grading of Recommendations Assessment (GRADE).(22) Studies that undergo meta-analyses will undergo GRADE assessment, but there might also other studies included in the systematic review…”
MethodOperating characteristics of a rank correlation test for publication bias
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Shamseer, L., Moher, D., Clarke, M., Ghersi, D., Liberati, A., Petticrew, M., Shekelle, P., Stewart, L. A., & the PRISMA-P Group (2015) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.g7647 · Cited by 13,120
A basic introduction to fixed-effect and random-effects models for meta-analysis
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The $\chi^2$ Test of Goodness of Fit
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1 of the 24 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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Romanello, M., Walawender, M., Hsu, S.-C., Moskeland, A., Palmeiro-Silva, Y., Scamman, D., Ali, Z., Ameli, N., Angelova, D., Ayeb-Karlsson, S., et al. (2024) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(24)01822-1 · Cited by 897
Microbial ecology of the atmosphere
Šantl‐Temkiv, T., Amato, P., Casamayor, E. O., Lee, P. K. H., & Pointing, S. B. (2022) · FEMS Microbiology Reviews · doi:10.1093/femsre/fuac009 · Cited by 190
Neira, M., Erguler, K., Ahmady‐Birgani, H., AL-Hmoud, N. D., Fears, R., Gogos, C. A., Hobbhahn, N., Koliou, M., Kostrikis, L. G., Lelieveld, J., et al. (2022) · Environmental Research · doi:10.1016/j.envres.2022.114537 · Cited by 189
Mechanisms underlying the health effects of desert sand dust
Fussell, J. C., & Kelly, F. J. (2021) · Environment International · doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106790 · Cited by 146
Health and Safety Effects of Airborne Soil Dust in the Americas and Beyond
Tong, D. Q., Gill, T. E., Sprigg, W. A., Van Pelt, R. S., Baklanov, A. A., Barker, B. M., Bell, J. E., Castillo, J., Gassó, S., Gaston, C. J., et al. (2023) · Reviews of Geophysics · doi:10.1029/2021rg000763 · Cited by 131
Metadata
- Authors
- Tobias, A., Karanasiou, A., Amato, F., Roqué, M., & Querol, X.
- Affiliations
- Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ES)
- Iberoamerican Cochrane Centre, Barcelona, Spain
- Venue
- BMJ Open
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2019-07
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- e029876
- ISSN
- 2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6677997
- OpenAlex
- W2965466513
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 0.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (acceptedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (acceptedVersion)
- Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DIGITAL.CSIC (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- World Health Organization
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Air Quality and Health Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Aeolian processes and effects
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
- Keywords
- desert dust, dust storms, mineral dust, human health effects, particulate matter, air pollution, dust transport, dust composition, biological mechanisms, respiratory health
- MeSH terms
- Systematic Reviews as Topic, Sand, Air Pollution, Desert Climate, Dust, Environmental Exposure, Health Status, Humans, Research Design, Meta-Analysis as Topic
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