Neighborhood differences in rates of childhood asthma may be explained by varying levels of air pollution, reveals study published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology.
In New York City, where the study was conducted, asthma among school-age children ranges from a low of 3% to a high of 19% depending on the neighborhood, and even children growing up within walking distance of each other can have 2- to 3-fold differences in risk for asthma. Helping explain these disparities, the researchers found that levels of airborne black carbon, which mostly comes from incomplete combustion sources like diesel trucks and oil furnaces, were high in homes of children with asthma. They also reported elevated levels of black carbon within homes in neighborhoods with high asthma prevalence and high densities of truck routes and homes burning low-grade or "dirty" heating oil.
Quiz on Asthma
Introduction: Asthma is a chronic condition in which the airways become narrow and swollen and may produce extra mucus. This can lead to breathing difficulties and trigger coughing. Asthma can be mild sometimes, which affects daily activities. In some cases, it can be serious and life-threatening, and it is called an asthma attack . The quiz on Asthma can be u
"This study adds to the evidence that further public health interventions on oil and truck emissions standards and the use of dirty oil may be warranted. This is especially timely as New York City considers regulations to further reduce the burning of low-grade oil for domestic heating," says the study's senior author, Matthew Perzanowski, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health .
The research team collected air samples from inside the homes of 240 7- and 8-year-old children from middle-income neighborhoods throughout New York City. These children also took breathing tests to measure exhaled nitric oxide, an indicator of lung inflammation.
"Airway inflammation plays an important role in the development of asthma and can contribute to more frequent symptoms among children with the disease," says study lead author Alexandra Cornell, MD, assistant professor in pediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School and previously a pediatric pulmonology fellow at Columbia University Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. "Children in this study with higher black carbon in the air of their homes had higher exhaled nitric oxide, suggesting that they were at greater risk for asthma exacerbations. That this increased risk comes from air pollution lends weight to New York City's efforts to improve air quality, including phasing out the use of dirty oil, which is a large contributor to local air pollution. "
Source: Eurekalert
Asthma-specific Costs Associated With Air Pollution: Study
The total cost of asthma due to traffic-related air pollution is much higher than once believed, says study published in European Respiratory Journal .
Advertisement
|
Recommended Readings
Latest Respiratory Disease News
