Kids Health Notes

Traffic is (really) bad for asthmatic children

by Grace on December 27th, 2007

I say, traffic is bad for everyone’s health… But particularly, exposure to high traffic is worse for children with asthma.

A study among children with asthma living in the border city of Mexico found that heavy traffic and pollution is associated with increased lung problems in the kids. An especially disconcerting result is that children who live in homes and study in schools near major highways and heavy traffic roads were at higher risk of having respiratory symptoms.

“Results from our study provide further evidence that traffic-related exposures are associated with increased airway inflammation and reduced lung function in children with asthma,” the researchers wrote.

This does not bode well with the many schools and homes that are close to major roads, especially in the cities. Hopefully, more research goes into this - both in the academe, in public health and transportation. Asthma is a major and increasing public health problem in the US amore than is already the third-ranking cause of hospitalization among those younger than 15 years of age.

[source: medpagetoday]; image

Tags: asthma, children, traffic, exposure, school, prevalence, lung problem

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POSTED IN: Asthma and Allergy, Children's Health, Common childhood illnesses