Researchers Link Childhood Asthma to Exposure to Traffic-Related Pollution
Living near a freeway may bring an increased risk of asthma according to researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
Scientists studying air pollution levels in ten Southern California communities found that the closer children live to a freeway, the greater their chance of having been diagnosed with asthma. Researchers also found that children who had higher levels of nitrogen dioxide — commonly emitted by internal combustion engines — in the air around their homes were more likely to have developed asthma.
Researchers looked at the pollution-asthma link in 208 children who ware part of the Children’s Health Study, the longest running investigation into air pollution and kids’ health. Investigators concluded that the results “strengthen an emerging body of evidence that air pollution can cause asthma and that traffic-related pollutants that vary within communities are partly responsible for this association.”
Gauderrnan WJ, Avol A, Lurmann F, Kuenzli N, Gilliland F, Peters J, McConnell R. Childhood Asthma and Exposure to Traffic and Nitrogen Dioxide. Epidemiology 2005; 16:737-743.
For copies of the abstract click here.
