Two Studies Report Children’s Respiratory Health Improves When Pollution Declines
Before reunification of Germany in 1989, outdoor concentrations of total suspended particles were higher in East Germany than in West Germany due to emissions from industrial and domestic sources. Traffic-related air pollution was higher in West Germany than in East Germany.
During the initial years after reunification, total suspended particulates (TSP) levels declined in East German and reached West German levels, but emissions from traffic increased.
A German study compared two measures of lung function — lung capacity and airway resistance in six year old East and West German children during this time of decreasing concentrations of TSP in East Germany.
Total lung capacity showed a clear association with long-term concentrations of TSP, while resistance was affected by short-term concentrations. Reduction in TSP was associated with better lung function when comparing repeated cross sections in six-year-old children. However, for children living near busy roads, this improvement was counteracted by increased air pollution associated with traffic during this period.
Reduction in air pollution exposures contributes to improved respiratory health in children, according to a new cross-sectional study of children in nine communities in Switzerland. Researchers investigated a moderate decline of PM10 air pollution in the 1990s in Switzerland. Some 9,600 children tracked their respiratory symptoms over a 9 year period.
After adjusting for socioeconomic, health-related, and indoor air factors, declines in PM10 were associated with declining prevalence of chronic cough, bronchitis, common cold, nocturnal dry cough, and conjunctivitis symptoms. Changes in prevalence of sneezing during pollen season, asthma, and hay fever were not associated with the PM10 reduction.
No threshold with adverse effects of PM10 was apparent, because researchers observed the beneficial effects for relatively small changes of rather moderate air pollution levels. “The larger reduction in symptom rates in areas with a stronger decrease in PM10 levels supports the causality of observed associations between air pollution and respiratory health in children,” conclude the researchers.
Sugiri D, Ranft U, Schikowski T, Krämer U. The Influence of Large Scale Airborne Particle Decline and Traffic Related Exposure on Children’s Lung Function. Environ Health Perspect 2006;114:282-288.
For a copy of the article click here.
Bayer-Oglesby L, Grize L, Gassner M, Takken-Sahli K, Sennhauser FH, Neu U, Schindler C, Braun-Fahrländer C. Decline of Ambient Air Pollution Levels and Improved Respiratory Health in Swiss Children. Env Health Perspect 2005; 113:1632-1637.
For a copy of the article click here.
