Asthma-Air Pollution May Make It Worse...

Child Health Alert

The authors found that levels of almost all pollutants weren't considered to be excessive by federal standards; still, when pollutant levels (such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and small particles) were relatively high, children's lung functions were worse, and for some pollutants, high levels were linked to missed days of school and more symptoms of asthma.

Asthma is a problem affecting a great many adults and children, and it's well known that some factors, such as certain allergies, can increase the risk and severity of asthma.

Though common sense would suggest that air pollution would also worsen asthma, the evidence gathered to date hasn't always shown that to be the case.

To see whether air pollution affects the severity of asthma among inner-city children, researchers followed 861 asthmatic children from 7 US cities. Every 6 months for 2 years, the children's lung functions were tested twice-a-day over a two-week period; asthma symptoms were also recorded every 2 months. During the same two-year period, the researchers collected daily information on air pollution in the 7 study cities.

The authors found that levels of almost all pollutants weren't considered to be excessive by federal standards; still, when pollutant levels (such as nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and small particles) were relatively high, children's lung functions were worse, and for some pollutants, high levels were linked to missed days of school and more symptoms of asthma.