Souzana Achilleos

University of Nicosia

Background: Understanding the impact of the burden of COVID-19 is key to successfully navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of a larger investigation on COVID-19 mortality impact, this study aims to estimate the Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL) in 17 countries and territories across the world (Australia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cyprus...

The public awareness on aeolian dust (fine and ultrafine) has been increased after the increase in dust events all over the world. In spite of the raise on public concerns regarding the dust, the medical society needs to be prepared in several aspects, including scientific confirmation of health hazards, risk prevention and reduction rates, and com...

Objectives: To prospectively quantify at the community level changes in asthma symptom control and other morbidity indices, among asthmatic schoolchildren in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown measures. Methods: In Spring 2019 and Spring 2020, we prospectively assessed monthly changes in pediatric asthma control test (c-ACT...

Background Understanding the impact of the burden of COVID-19 is key to successfully navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of a larger investigation on COVID-19 mortality impact, this study aims to estimate the Potential Years of Live Lost (PYLL) in 17 countries and territories across the world (Australia, Brazil, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cyprus,...

Background: This study aimed to investigate overall and sex-specific excess all-cause mortality since the inception of the COVID-19 pandemic until August 2020 among 22 countries. Methods: Countries reported weekly or monthly all-cause mortality from January 2015 until the end of June or August 2020. Weekly or monthly COVID-19 deaths were reporte...

Between March and April 2020, Cyprus and Greece health authorities enforced three escalated levels of public health interventions to control the COVID-19 pandemic. We quantified compliance of 108 asthmatic schoolchildren (53 from Cyprus, 55 from Greece, mean age 9.7 years) from both countries to intervention levels, using wearable sensors to contin...

Background Desert dust events in Mediterranean countries, originating mostly from the Sahara and Arabian deserts, have been linked to climate change and are associated with significant increase in mortality and hospital admissions from respiratory causes. The MEDEA clinical intervention study in children with asthma is funded by EU LIFE+ program to...

The characteristics of desert dust storms (DDS) have been shown to change in response to climate change and land use. There is limited information on the frequency and intensity of DDS over the last decade at a regional scale in the Eastern Mediterranean. An algorithm based on daily ground measurements (PM10, particulate matter ≤10 μm), satellite p...

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are one of the most hazardous substances in the environment. Although their occurrence and fate in the atmosphere of Eastern Mediterranean is well documented, there is limited information on PAH levels in the inhalable aerosol fraction. Additionally, to the best of our knowledge, there is lack of information...

Background The health burden from exposure to air pollution has been studied in many parts of the world. However, there is limited research on the health effects of air quality in arid areas where sand dust is the primary particulate pollution source. Objective Study the risk of mortality from exposure to poor air quality days in Kuwait. Methods...

Background The link between PM2.5 exposure and adverse health outcomes is well documented from studies across the world. However, the reported effect estimates vary across studies, locations and constituents. We aimed to conduct a meta-analysis on associations between short-term exposure to PM2.5 constituents and mortality using city-specific estim...

Air quality in Cyprus is influenced by both local and transported pollution, including desert dust storms. We examined PM10 concentration data collected in Nicosia (urban representative) from April 1, 1993, through December 11, 2008, and in Ayia Marina (rural background representative) from January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2008. Measurements w...

There is growing concern about the accuracy of trace elemental analysis of ambient particulate matter (PM) samples. This has become important because ambient PM concentrations have decreased over the years, and the lower filter loadings result in difficulties in accurate analysis. The performance of energy-dispersive X-ray reflectance spectrometry...

In the frame of ‘AIRSPACE’ project, ground-based measurements were conducted in the four main cities of Cyprus. Limassol, comprises the main test site as Lidar and CIMEL sun photometer (NASA/AERONET network) are located at the premises of CUT, while the other cities (Nicosia, Larnaca and Paphos) are used as validation sites. During data collection...

Atmospheric pollution due to particulate matter (PM) is a continuing problem in many areas of Cyprus. This project integrates observations from Lidar, sun-photometers, satellite AOT retrievals and PM10, PM2.5 concentrations with emphasis in urban sites. Aerosol measurements were obtained from four sites (Lemesos, Nicosia, Larnaka, Paphos)where the...