World Asthma Day – The importance of air pollutants characterization
Asthma, a chronic disease that’s important to diagnose
World Asthma Day, set up by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), took place this year on May 6, 2025. It aims to raise awareness of this chronic respiratory disease among the general public and healthcare professionals.
Asthma is a persistent inflammatory disease of the bronchial tubes, often linked to allergic factors. It manifests itself through intermittent respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness and sometimes sputum. In some cases, these symptoms can evolve into severe attacks. According to the WHO, it is the most common chronic disease in children. Some 339 million people worldwide suffer from asthma.
In France, an estimated 4 million people suffer from asthma, including many children. Among adults, 15-20% of cases are work-related. Occupational asthma is the most common respiratory disease in industrialized countries. It is caused or aggravated by inhalation of irritating substances in workplace, such as isocyanates, metals or wood dust.
In addition, between 2016 and 2019, Santé publique France assessed the impact of exposure to ambient air pollution on several diseases. This study highlighted a link between exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and the development of respiratory pathologies, particularly asthma in adults and children.
TERA Environnement helps you monitor air quality
In this context, air quality monitoring is an essential prevention lever. TERA Environnement contributes to this approach by offering solutions for measuring and analyzing various atmospheric pollutants, such as NO₂ (under COFRAC Essais* accreditation) and PM2.5, in outdoor environments with the provision of passive or active media. In this monitoring context, we also offer the provision of NEMO-connected measuring stations enabling concentrations to be tracked in real time.
Our expertise also extends to air quality in workplace. We support you in your monitoring initiatives by offering targeted analyses, such as metal, dust and wood dust analysis (under COFRAC Essais* accreditation), or isocyanate analysis by ToxiLabo laboratory, part of Groupe TERA. These analyses enable us to assess exposure and limit risks to workers’ health.
*Consult our scopes of Cofrac accreditation Tests 1-5598 and 1-5599, list of sites and scopes available on cofrac.fr
Scope of our Crolles laboratory: 1-5598 & Scope of our Fuveau laboratory: 1-5599
Consult our air analysis and sampling media services
Do you have any questions or do you need a quote? Contact us to find out more about our analysis services.
