RE: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/sep2004/2004-09-10-09.asp#anchor4
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LOS ANGELES, California, September 10, 2004 (ENS) - By age 18, the lungs of many children who grow up in smoggy areas are underdeveloped and will likely never recover, according to a study in this week's issue of the "New England Journal of Medicine."
The research is part of the Children's Health Study, the longest investigation ever into air pollution and childrens' health."Teenagers in smoggy communities were nearly five times as likely to have clinically low lung function, compared to teens living in low pollution communities," explains the study's lead author Dr. W. James Gauderman, Ph.D., associate professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
"These are pollutants that all derive from vehicle emissions and the combustion of fossil fuels," says Gauderman.
Low lung function compounds breathing problems. "If a child or young adult with low lung function were to have a cold, they might have more severe lung symptoms, or wheezing," Gauderman says. "They may have a longer disease course, while a child with better lung function may weather it much better."
Potential long-term effects parallel those of smoking tobacco. Gauderman says, "Low lung function has been shown to be second only to smoking as a risk factor for all-cause mortality."
People with clinically low lung function have less than 80 percent of the lung function expected for their age, a problem that might would raise concerns during a doctor's exam. For example, someone with sub-par lung function cannot exhale and blow up a balloon as quickly or as big as someone with good lung function could.
Between 1993 and 2001, study scientists from the Keck School tracked levels of major pollutants in 12 Southern California communities while following the pulmonary health of 1,759 children as they progressed from fourth grade to 12th grade.
The 12 communities included some of the most polluted areas in the greater Los Angeles basin, as well as several low pollution sites outside the area.
The researchers previously found that children who were exposed to more air pollution scored lower on respiratory tests. In this latest study, researchers analyzed the same children's respiratory health at age 18, when lungs are almost mature.
"When we began the study 10 years ago, we had no idea we would find effects on the lung this serious," says John Peters, M.D., Hastings professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School, director of the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center, and senior author of the study.
Researchers correlated the students' lung health measurements with levels of air pollutants monitored in the communities during the same time period.
They found greater deficits in lung development in teenagers who lived in communities with higher average levels of elemental carbon, nitrogen dioxide, acid vapor, and fine particulate matter.
The research team will continue to follow the study participants into their early 20s, when their lungs will mature and stop developing entirely. They seek to find out if the participants begin to experience respiratory symptoms and if those who moved away from a polluted environment show benefits.
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