SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 May. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands and the Spanish Society of Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR) presented this Thursday the ASHES study, which will analyze the impact of the Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption on respiratory health over the next five years. more than 2,000 people residing on the island of La Palma.
The beginning of this study has been presented by the director of the Health Area of La Palma, Kilian Sánchez; the manager of the Sanitary Services of the Island, Mercedes Coello; the vice president and pulmonologist of the Spanish Society of Pulmonology and Thoracic Surgery (SEPAR), Germán Peces-Barba, at the University Hospital of La Palma.
The professionals who will lead the project, members of SEPAR, the pulmonologist of the University Hospital of La Palma, Sergio Fumero; the HUC pediatric pulmonologist, Valle Velasco; the nurse at the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria David Díaz, and the pulmonologist at the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria and COPD expert Ciro Casanova.
In this research, promoted by SEPAR researchers, a multidisciplinary group of 20 professionals will participate, including professionals from the Health Area and other experts in COPD, asthma, interstitial pathology, occupational and environmental diseases, as well as epidemiologists and members of the National Center for Environmental Health, who will act as collaborators.
The full name of the ASHES project, a word that in English means ‘ashes’, is Analysis of Exposure and Respiratory Health Effects of Volcanic Eruption in the Canary Islands. .
This initiative seeks to analyze the effects that volcanic eruptions have on the health of the population in general by conducting a questionnaire to all the participants, who will also undergo respiratory function tests and biological samples will be taken to determine markers of exposure to the products of the volcanic eruption.
FOUR FIELDS OF RESEARCH
ASHES aims to form four well-differentiated research population groups:
– People highly exposed to the effect of the volcanic eruption, which will include those with access to the exclusion zone and people professionally dedicated to collecting volcanic ash.
– General population that has lived in the area closest to the eruption, which will be compared with the population that lives in the area of the island furthest from the eruptive zone.
– Pediatric population that has lived in the area closest to the eruption, compared with the population living in the area furthest from the eruptive zone.
– Sick people with respiratory pathology such as COPD, asthma or diffuse interstitial pathology, diagnosed prior to the volcanic eruption, in whom the effect of said eruption will be compared with their clinical values before it.
HOW TO TAKE PART
Those responsible for ASHES will carry out different actions aimed at attracting participants among the adult population in three different aspects. To do this, they will have the collaboration of Primary Care professionals, as well as different social, neighborhood, cultural and sports agents on the Island who will publicize this project at street level.
A campaign will be carried out through social networks that will publicize the project and how to join it at the local and insular level; In addition, there will be the involvement of the different local and island administrations that will disseminate the information on the project among their workers to encourage them to participate in the study.
Those interested in participating must fill out a form, after which they will receive a phone call to confirm their willingness to be part of the project and, thus, be able to schedule them to carry out the tests and the established follow-up.
For the development of this study, a multidisciplinary group has been created made up of professionals with research experience in the different facets of respiratory diseases, design of epidemiological studies and in the analysis of volatile toxic compounds. Likewise, a research protocol has been designed and approved by the Tenerife Clinical Research Ethics Committee in February of this year.
