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The concept of external air pollution is a complex mixture of the particular gas which is produced naturally or because of human activities (Saini, Garg & Kumar, 2019). In the recent era of globalisation, human health and environment are critically affected due to air pollution which is the major concern of the modern world today (Nowak et al., 2018). According to the World Health Organisation, major air pollutants are such as lead, sulphur oxide, pollution particles, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide (Aydin, 2017). Exposure to the toxicants suspended in the air, whether short-term or long-term, have a serious impact on the human health. Respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, irritation in the eyes, skin diseases, complicated neuropsychiatric conditions and chronicle diseases such as cancer are some of the harmful health impacts of the exposure to air pollution. There are various sources of emission which are leading to air pollution; and in the recent years, the major sources of air pollution are due to various industrial processes and the motor vehicles (Francova et al., 2017). Additionally, fossil fuel combustion by the motor vehicles and industries, burning of wood for coal or heating indoor places are also the examples of air pollution, where the human activities are the cause of such pollution in the air. On the other hand, the natural sources of air pollution are forest fires, emissions from the vegetation, dust storms, and volcanic eruptions.
According to Malviya (2016), human health is affected by the air quality. The better quality of life of the individuals is associated with the better air quality and pollution free environment, where the people can stay safely. Every year, the number of deaths recorded globally because of air pollution is about seven million (Cohen et al., 2017). The people are suffering from many chronicle diseases due to such air pollution. the activities such as consumption of energy because of the transport, heating or air conditioning systems are also increasing year by year which cause air pollution and for the human activities globally, the incident of air pollution happens and this in turn deteriorate the quality of health of the individuals. In this context, one of the major sources of air pollutants in the urban areas is traffic (Yu et al., 2016). Civilisations is associated with major motorways and roads, better transport system which are the major factor affecting the air across the globe. Hence, harmful emissions from the traffic affect the health and well-being of the humans adversely.
Mixture of vehicle exhausts, evaporative emissions, and secondary pollutants created in the atmosphere and non-combustion emissions such as road dust, tire wear are the major cause of traffic related air pollution which hampers the health condition of the human beings (Matz et al., 2019). The combustion of fuel by the motor vehicles releases carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, Nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds into the air, making it polluting and harmful for the plants, birds, animals, human and even the architectural buildings. The harmful pollutants and degradation of the air quality is the direct result of the increasing duration and severity of the traffic congestions. According to Zhang, Zhang & Chen (2017), the physical and psychological wellbeing of the human beings is affected differently with the exposure of different kind of air pollution. Respiratory diseases, damage to cardiovascular system, increased headaches, problems of anxiety and fatigue, irritation to the eyes, nose and throat, damage to the reproduction system or organs, damage to the nervous system, blood infections, and harm to liver and spleen are some of the consequences of being exposed to the polluted air and examples of harm caused to the organs and functional aspects of the human body (Carlsten & Rider, 2017).
The aim of the paper is to develop systematic review to explore the evidences available for understanding the impacts on the health of the human being exposed to the traffic-related air pollution. The objectives of the paper are such as,
The primary research questions for this systematic review are,
Systematic review is effective research design of this research proposal. Extracting reliable and relevant information from the available body of evidence is done through systematic review. A review of the existing information is required by the decision makers, who are not able to keep the information up to date because of existence of lot of information which makes solving problems. This is where systematic review helps. It is a systematic approach followed in a sequential steps aimed at minimising the biasness of the information which makes decision making on the basis of reliability of the data (Whiting et al., 2016). Through systematic design, it is possible for the researcher to gather the valid and reliable information and evaluate the information for fulfilling the research objectives and aims.
Relevant articles for this research will be identified using electronic databases like MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMED, Google scholar. Published articles in these electronic databases will be selected and referred for the research. Keywords like “TRAP”, “TRAP and HUMAN HEALTH”, “IMPACT OF TRAP ON HUMANS”, etc will be used for searching the relevant articles Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trails will be searched for identifying published randomized controlled trail articles for the research (Virgili et al., 2018). The database of National Technical Information Service will be searched for identifying the relevant grey literature on the research topic for minimising the publication baseness along with visiting the British Library. Publication baseness will also be reduced by searching articles relevant for the research in the British Library. Additionally, the reference list of relevant studies may also provide some articles which could be used for this research. Hereby, the secondary sources of information are effective where the researcher can gather a vast knowledge and information related to the air pollution and its impacts on the health condition of the human being. The secondary literature sources include the books, journals, online articles and above mentioned database, which are beneficial for conducting the research successfully.
The data sources will only be included in the research if:
The data sources will be excluded if they are:
First Phase: The titles of the papers and their abstracts will be read and checked for the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Third phase: The bibliography of the selected articles will be scrutinised and small hand-picked papers will be evaluated against the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
The data pertaining to this research will be retrieved from the selected studies to be tailored to the review questions. Data extraction for this research pertains to the forms which are outlined in the forms of tables (Scott et al., 2018). Three tables will be used for extraction of the data.
There are two types of data analysis technique, one is quantitative and other is qualitative. The quantitative data analysis technique is utilised for representing the quantitative data and conducting statistical analysis. On the other hand, the qualitative data analysis is related to gathering the secondary sources of information and analyse the collected information on the basis of secondary data, theories and concepts. Data analysis for this research paper will be completed using narrative analysis techniques or statistical analysis techniques which would be dependent on the analysis techniques used in the selected studies. If the data and results are not appropriately formed, narrative approach will be used for analysing the gathered data. One of the main reasons for this could be because of studies being too clinically or methodologically diverse. For systematic review paper, the qualitative data analysis is effective to analyse and evaluate the research topic which is to review the impacts of traffic related air pollution on the human health condition.
For keeping track of the process of the research the useful data analysis tool are word processing software including Microsoft word and spreadsheets will be used. Data Analysis required for this research paper will be done by using Microsoft excel and spreadsheets where proper track of the collected information and data can be maintained properly and it further helps the researcher to analyse the collected findings critically.
The CONSORT, which is Consolidated Standards of Reporting trials, statements will be used for checking the validity and improving the reporting style of the results of the Randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies which are included in the paper (Boutron et al., 2017). Along with this; CASP, which is Critical Appraisal Skills Program, statements will be used for validation and improved reporting of the results found in the cohort and case controlled studies used for this research (CASP, 2018).
For presenting a clear and transparent report which is comprehensible ay all, PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis, the statements will be the guiding styles throughout all the steps of this systematic review paper (Welch et al., 2016). Presenting clear and comprehensible findings and results of the planned research structure, research methods used and findings of the systematic review is the main purpose of using PRISMA statements.
As the systematic review did not involve primary data analysis or collection, and there was no direct participation of anyone, hence, the systematic review will not have any ethical implication. However, an ethical consideration application will be submitted for the approval of this research, where it is necessary to protect the authenticity of the secondary data. The researcher must fill up the ethical form for the secondary research also, where validity and reliability of the collected data are managed well. The researcher ensures that the gathered data and information are utilised only for the research purpose, not for others. Additionally, the information from the secondary data sources will be cited properly with appropriate reference list to maintain the authenticity of the research.
This research will have the following limitations:
Budget is necessary to be predicted and settled to progress in the research paper, where it is possible for the researcher to conduct the study in a systematic manner. I have set a budget of £100 for purchasing research papers. I will not be travelling much for the research apart from travelling to the university library hence; I have not anticipated additional travel expenses.
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