Audience guide · sensitive groups
Air quality for sensitive groups: interpreting public guidance carefully
“Sensitive groups” is public communication language, not a diagnosis AirAgora can assign. The product can make caution more visible while leaving individual decisions to appropriate official and professional guidance.
Named scale
AQI ≠ µg/m³
Compare within one scheme, with pollutant, time, and source.
The phrase belongs to an index and guidance context
The U.S. AQI includes a category named “unhealthy for sensitive groups.” European AQI uses a different category structure and should not be relabeled as if it were the U.S. system. A category must remain attached to its named scale.
Public activity guides can describe broad groups and suggested adjustments. AirAgora summarizes context without deciding whether a specific person belongs to a category.
AirAgora does not collect the information needed for diagnosis
The planner does not ask for a medical condition, medication, symptom history, age, or clinical risk. A profile is a generic activity/sensitivity preference used to change caution copy—not a health record or clinical model.
This boundary reduces privacy risk and prevents false personalization. Questions about an individual response belong with a qualified professional who has the necessary context.
A lower forecast is still a relative comparison
The deterministic score can show a complete period with lower modeled severity than the alternatives. It cannot establish that the window is risk-free. WHO guideline evidence supports caution against universal-safe statements.
If the whole day is elevated, the result uses least-polluted language. If the difference is small, AirAgora reports similar conditions instead of implying a narrow medically meaningful threshold.
Modeled data and local conditions can differ
The modeled OpenWeather forecast fields represent broad grids and future hours. A monitor, local source, indoor space, terrain feature, or smoke plume may differ. Source time, model status, and stale state remain part of the result.
During urgent conditions, official local alerts and professional guidance should take priority. AirAgora cannot assess symptoms or a rapidly changing incident.
How saved alerts use sensitivity settings
Free accounts support a basic alert; Premium supports thresholds, change directions, quiet hours, more locations, and more profiles. Alert evaluation remains tied to the OpenWeather provider scale and explicit crossing state.
A sensitivity preference changes the communication threshold and wording, not the underlying ranked windows. Delivery can fail, so AirAgora records provider and email errors instead of reporting fake success.
- Keep category and OpenWeather scale together.
- Do not use a profile as a medical record.
- Treat “lower” as relative, not risk-free.
- Check official local information in severe conditions.
- Use professional advice for individual questions.
Direct answers
Frequently asked questions
Can AirAgora determine whether I am in a sensitive group?
No. It does not collect or evaluate the clinical information needed to make that determination.
Does the European AQI use the same sensitive-group category?
No. European and U.S. AQI use different category structures and must remain clearly named.
What does the sensitivity preference change?
It changes caution emphasis and thresholds, not the deterministic order of environmental windows.
Does a lower window mean no risk?
No. It is lower relative to the available modeled forecast and cannot guarantee an individual outcome.
Should I follow an app during symptoms or a severe incident?
Use appropriate medical and official local guidance. AirAgora is not an emergency or diagnostic service.
Are sensitivity details exposed in public logs?
Public payloads and notification logs omit private profile labels and exact coordinates.
Evidence register
Sources and further reading
The links below identify the primary references used on this page. Selection, summary, and presentation are AirAgora modifications.
Keep exploring
AirAgora provides informational planning guidance, not medical advice. Local conditions can differ from modeled forecasts; follow official guidance during severe events.