Effects
A newly published comparative study of asthma and
road traffic using data from ten European cities presents estimates of the
percentage of children whose asthma is due to traffic pollution.
“We know that air pollution can trigger asthma
symptoms. But this is the first time we have gotten an estimate of the
percentage of asthmatic children who would not have been afflicted at all if
they hadn’t been exposed to pollution from road traffic,” says Lauren Parvez in
a press release.
Parvez works at the Indian Public Health Institute,
and is the first author of the new study.
The researchers conclude that 14 percent of
children with chronic asthma got it because of traffic pollution.
Uncertainties
The researchers calculated their figures by
collating asthma studies that had already been conducted in the ten cities with
statistics of asthma prevalence and residence related to traffic pollution
exposure.
They then calculated how much of the blame can be
pinned on roads as compared to other factors, such as household smoking or
socio-economic background.
They used this data to determine how many cases of
asthma they think could have been averted if the children did not live close to
a road with heavy traffic.
However, because the researchers had to calculate
with some variables that couldn’t be fully verified, their model cannot give
definite results.
Bergen
points at smoking
The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated
that between 4 and 18 percent of all cases of child asthma can be attributed to
secondary smoke.
Perez and her research colleagues, however, think
smoking and traffic pollution are equally bad.
Last year the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
(NRK) reported that children who lived close to busy roads in Bergen had less
asthma than those who were subject to secondary smoke.
“In homes with a lot of cigarette smoke the
particles are closer and thus worse than in areas with high levels of air
pollution,” said Per Schwarze, a director at the Norwegian Institute of Public
Health, to NRK.
Chief Physician Zuzana Magnussen suggested at the
same time that many families who have children with respiratory problems are
likely to move to more rural areas with fresher air, which statistically lowers
the number of asthmatic children who live close to roads with heavy traffic.
Scandinavian
responses
Swedish researchers have already found that a key
factor is where the child lives in its first year.
Children who lived close to busy roads in their
first 12 months were more at risk of poor lung function later. But kids who
moved to areas with heavy traffic later in their childhood did not appear to be
affected by road dust pollution.
A Danish study looked at children who grew up on
farms and concluded that they have half the risk as their urban peers of
developing asthma and allergies.
This may make you think you should move out of town
right away. But even if you have allergy problems you needn’t start packing
yet.
Common
sense
The grass is not always greener in the suburbs -
partly because of the grass itself. There's lots of pollen out there in rural
areas or the suburbs. Too much of it during the last trimester of a pregnancy
can increase the risk of a child developing asthma early in life.
Young parents are constantly being bombarded with
conflicting research conclusions, whether about coffee, kindergartens, asthma
prevention or some other concern.
One thing to consider – neither the automotive
industry nor the tobacco giants are claiming that traffic pollution and smoking
are particularly beneficial to small or fully developed lungs.
So even though scientists don’t concur as to
exactly how pernicious these factors are, it’s a good idea to quit smoking and
try to keep infant lungs pure.