Childhood Pneumonia Rate Higher in Urban Apartments: Study

In urban modern cities, the incidence of childhood pneumonia is still high, reveals study. Professor Hua QIAN and his group from School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University set out to find out which home risk factors affect the incidence of childhood pneumonia in modern urban apartments.

A recent study found that the risk factors in indoor environment typical of modern apartments in China related to pneumonia among children.

The study is part of the China, Child, Home, and Health (CCHH) project, which is investigating associations between home indoor environmental factors and children's health. This is a population-based cross-sectional study.

The survey was performed and completed from December 2010 to March 2011 in Nanjing.

Twenty-three kindergartens were randomly selected in the 11 districts. No kindergartens were selected in the 2 counties.

The pneumonia incidence is found to be high in Nanjing.

Lack of ventilation, gas as cooking fuel, dampness, new furniture, "modern" floor and wall covering materials showed significant associations with the incidence of pneumonia.

Other factors such as family allergy, child care by non-parents, other respiratory diseases were also reported to be associated with pneumonia.

In summary, modern life style and home environment play an important role in developing pneumonia infections among children in Nanjing.

The findings are published in Chinese Science Bulletin.2013.

Source-ANI