Particle Pollution Retards Lung Function Growth in Teenagers
A study of California teenagers has found that PM10 air pollution retards lung function growth as much as smoking.
Researchers studied 110 children who had moved from communities that are part of the California Children’s Health Study to determine whether changes in air quality caused by relocation were associated with changes in annual lung function growth rates. Researchers found that changes in PM10 exposure during adolescent growth years have a “measurable and potentially important effect on lung function growth and performance.”
Reductions in annual respiratory growth rates during adolescence may be a significant predictor of respiraotry health in later life.
The reductions observed “suggest that ambient air pollution exposure has a similar magnitude of effect on lung function development to that previously observed for children who are active smokers,” reports the study.
“The results of this study, together with those of the numerous previously reported investigations of PM10 and its association with increased morbidity and mortality, underscore the national concern about particulate exposure and its relation to public health,” researchers conclude.
Avol, E.L., Gauderman, W.J., Tan, Sylvia, M., London, S.J., and Peters, J.M. Respiratory Effects of Relocating to Areas of Differing Air Pollution Levels. Am J Respir Crit Care Med, Vol. 164, pp. 2067-2072, December 2001.
The American Thoracic Society [www.ajrccm.atsjournals.org] offers the abstract online.
