The study, recently published in The Lancet Planetary Health, is the first of its kind to estimate the burden of childhood asthma caused by air pollution in more than 13,000 cities around the world.
Study co-author Susan Annenberg and professor of environmental and occupational health at George Washington University says their study revealed that nitrogen dioxide puts children at risk for asthma, and that the problem is particularly exacerbated in urban areas.
“The results suggest that clean air should be an important part of strategies to keep children healthy,” she says.
Asthma is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the bronchial tubes in the lung, and may make breathing difficult, and lead to coughing, wheezing (chest wheezing) when exhaling and shortness of breath.
shocking results
The researchers studied ground-level concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a pollutant that comes from exhaust emissions from cars, power plants and industrial sites, and then tracked new asthma cases in children from 2000 through 2019.
Researchers found that in 2019, nitrogen dioxide caused 1.85 million children to develop asthma, a third of these cases in urban areas.
But among the study’s promising results, the number of pediatric asthma cases linked to nitrogen dioxide has decreased in urban areas, and the scientists suspect that this is likely due to the tightening of clean air regulations established by high-income countries such as the United States.
Despite improvements in air quality in Europe and the United States, polluted air, particularly nitrogen dioxide pollution, is on the rise in South Asia, Black Africa and the Middle East, representing a significant public health burden in these regions.
The researchers conclude that much more needs to be done, both in high-income countries and in parts of the world that are still struggling to reduce harmful emissions from vehicles and sources of nitrogen dioxide.
Another study
Another study by Annenberg and colleagues suggests that 1.8 million excess deaths could be linked to urban air pollution in 2019 alone.
The results of the study also show that 86 percent of adults and children living in cities around the world are exposed to a level of particulate matter that exceeds the guidelines set by the World Health Organization.
Specialists urge to limit the use of transportation powered by fossil fuels to control asthma cases in children and the high level of mortality, as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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