Health outcome · marker

Airway and systemic inflammation

Also: cytokines, systemic inflammation

The body's defensive response to injury or irritants — swelling, immune-cell recruitment, release of signalling molecules. Low-grade, persistent inflammation is the pathway from indoor air exposure to asthma, cardiovascular disease and cognitive effects.

G-0056 · Updated 5 September 2026 · Coridum Research

Why it matters indoors

Inhaled particles and gases first inflame the airway lining; from there, inflammatory signals and ultrafine particles reach the bloodstream and the whole body. Biomarkers such as C-reactive protein, interleukins and exhaled nitric oxide rise measurably after hours of elevated exposure, and fall when exposure is reduced — which is how intervention studies with air purifiers demonstrate benefit.

Identifiers

MeSH
D007249

In the literature

  1. Inflammation describes and explains the adverse effects of aerosol optical (2023). doi:10.18103/m CKB 0586
  2. Associations of particulate matter exposures with brain gray matter thickness and white… (2023). doi:10.3346/jkms.2023.38.e159 CKB 0685
  3. Krittanawong PM2.5 and cardiovascular diseases - State-of-the-art review (2023). International journal of cardiology. Cardiovascular risk and prevention. doi:10.1016/j.ijcrp.2023.200217 CKB 0588

Studies in the Coridum Knowledge Base in which this term is used. The definition follows standard usage in WHO, ISO and textbook sources; it is not quoted from these papers.

CKB = document number in the Coridum Knowledge Base, our curated library of peer-reviewed studies. Follow the DOI for the original paper.