aGrisù: a patent project to highlight how physical activities affect the rate of absorption of air pollutants

Aim A number of papers in literature show that physical activities increase the exposure to air pollution and the poisonous deposition within the body. In fact, physical activities increase pulmonary ventilation and hence the volume of inhaled gases, harmful or not. A device providing the level of various air pollutants with respect to own physiological parameters was designed and implemented to became a tool for individual health awareness relating air quality according to exercise performance. Methods The general architecture of aGrisù is made by: -a wearable sensor for the detection of physiological parameters (heart and respiratory rate), communicating via BT technology with a mobile terminal; -a mobile terminal equipped with BT, GPS, GSM technology, communicating to a Main Server physiological parameters, received from the wearable sensor, and the position, detected by GPS; -monitoring stations for the detection of air pollutants: Carbon Monoxide (CO), Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Metals (Lead, Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel), Benzene (C6H6), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Ozone (O3) and Particulate matter (PM10, PM5, PM2, 5); -a Main Server bringing together morphological and physiological parameters, geographical and environmental data (derived from the public servers and specific monitoring locations). The Main Server processes the data obtained and sends to the mobile terminal customized information about air quality and its influence on the physical health. Conclusions For our knowledge aGrisù is the first system that try to provide a real-time indication of how physical activities affect the rate of absorption of air pollutants. aGrisù could offer a more conscious vision about consequences of practising physical activities in certain area. Moreover, aGrisù could raise awareness about air quality, driving a change in the policies for health protection.