Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 104, Issue 10, October 2010, Pages 1512-1520
Respiratory Medicine

Effects of ambient air pollution on lung function growth in Chinese schoolchildren

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2010.04.016Get rights and content
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Summary

Objective

To evaluate the adverse effect of exposure to air pollution on lung function growth in school-aged children.

Methods

A cohort of 1983 children from three districts in Guangzhou, China was followed-up for 6 months. The children performed pulmonary function tests twice, and their parents reported the child’s respiratory symptoms by self-administered questionnaires in both surveys.

Results

The annual mean concentrations of air pollutants for the past 5 years for particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), nitrogen (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) were respectively: 96.1 μg/m3, 76.0 μg/m3, and 65.7 μg/m3 in the highly-polluted district (HPD), 80.3 μg/m3, 67.6 μg/m3, and 54.5 μg/m3 in the moderately-polluted district (MPD), and 80.0 μg/m3, 48.1 μg/m3, and 52.2 μg/m3 in the least-polluted district (LPD).

After adjustment for potential confounders, significant deficits were found in the annual growth rates of forced expiratory flows at 25% (FEF25), and between 25% and 75% (FEF25–75) in boys and FEF25 in girls (In boys, for FEF25, −0.136 l/s, p = 0.008 in MPD and −0.153 l/s, p = 0.004 in HPD, respectively; for FEF25–75, −0.176 l/s, p = 0.013 in MPD and −0.167 l/s, p = 0.021 in HPD, respectively. In girls, for FEF25, −0.123 l/s, p = 0.043 in HPD), using LPD as the reference. Deficits in the annual growth rate of forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) were also negatively associated with air pollution in boys (−0.063 L, p = 0.032 in HPD).

Conclusions

The study adds more evidence that exposure to air pollution has adverse effects on lung function growth in schoolchildren.

Keywords

Air pollution
Lung function growth
Cohort study
Children

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