Research Team :: GERIA

PRINCIPAL RESEARCHER MESSAGE

As people have become increasingly aware, the age of the European population is rising and the percentage of adults aged 65 years and older is expected to increase. In addition, the elders spend about 20 hours per day indoors, and many of them spend essentially their time in elderly care centers. In this sense, the study of indoor environments and how elder people may be particularly at risk of adverse health effects from pollutants, even at low exposures, due to multiple underlying chronic diseases is becoming an important issue to be addressed by research.

The aim of GERIA project is to carry out a risk assessment, often difficult for elder people, involving the identification of multiple factors potentially affecting health and quality of life, the quantification of human exposure to pollutants, and the evaluation of the individual’s response to these stimuli. The results of this project will contribute to the understanding of health effects due to indoor environment variables and to improve the health of our elderly population. We believe that this program will be able to develop innovative strategies which, with relatively simple measures, could provide health benefits to elderly care centers residents.