Climate Change and Air Contamination: Artificial Intelligence Applied on the Correlation Between Air Pollutants and Non-communicable Respiratory Diseases in Europe (ClimAIr)
Trial ID: NCT07107009
Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Start date: 2026-01
Completion date: 2027-12
Sponsor: Fundación Pública Andaluza para la Investigación de Málaga en Biomedicina y Salud
Collaborators: Theramed Healthcare SRL (Romania); Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, FRANCE; Charite-Universitaetsmedizin Berlin (Germany); Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis (Greece); Uniwersytet Medyczny w Lodzi (Poland); Universita degli Studi di Milano (Italy); Bukovinian State Medical University (Ukraine); Luxembourg Institute of Health; Andaluz Health Service
Conditions: Allergic Rhinitis; Asthma
Enrollment: 1906
Age range: 12 Years - None
Sex: ALL

Summary:
The ClimAIr project will expand the evidence-based understanding of climate change, air pollution, and non-communicable respiratory diseases by using Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools. It will gather data on greenhouse gases levels and disaster risks, information on serious air pollutants and respiratory diseases' prevalence. The AI powered tools will be employed to generate better intervention methods and improve public health outcomes.

Federated Learning (FL) will be used to develop AI models to protect patients' privacy. By raising public awareness and delivering the ClimAIr tool - specifically designed to health workers, urban planners and policy makers - the project aims to influence policy decisions, promote healthier environments, and reduce respiratory diseases in Europe, which will be tested and validated the ClimAIr tool in specific municipalities that are part of the project. ClimAIr draws on a consortium of 21 partners from 15 European countries, including carefully selected health centres across Europe - in Spain, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Romania and Poland - focused on respiratory diseases, which will provide disease data and explore metabolic routes of the studied contaminants/diseases. ClimAIr is composed of an interdisciplinary team formed by research centres, ethical AI and modelling experts, SSH specialists, municipal governance, and a Communication \& Dissemination (C\&D) expert team dedicated to achieving and spread the results of the project.

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with health insurance based in Malaga, Milan, Luxembourg, Thessalonikki, Lodz, Berlin, Toulousse, Chervnivtsi and Brasov (the places where environmental/climate information will be obtained from, only one recruitment place for partner).
2. 3-year history of chronic rhinitis symptoms during the corresponding pollen season, while residing in the same household AND attending the same school/college or holding the same job position.
3. Positive SPT and serum allergen-specific IgE \>0.35 kUA/L. The pollen species driving the nasal symptoms will be Olea europaea, Phleum pratense or Betula pendula.
4. Patients can be sensitized to other aeroallergens if the nasal symptoms occur exclusively or aggravate unequivocally during the pollen season of the three allergens of interest.

Exclusion Criteria:

Lack of reliable information in e-health records, allergen immunotherapy (any allergen) during the previous 5 years, systemic immunosuppressants or biologicals in the previous six months, chronic rhinosinusitis, and severe systemic conditions.

Outcomes:
Mean Symptom Score of Allergic Rhinitis Patients by Environmental Exposure; Proteomic Biomarker Levels (NPX) by Environmental Exposure