Environmental health news: Air pollution linked to childhood asthma by new study

Childhood exposure to air pollution, particularly during pregnancy and in the first year of life, has been positively linked to the development of asthma by scientists in Canada.

Their findings were published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives and revealed that breathing heavily polluted air early on in life can lead to asthma.

The research was carried out in south-western British Columbia. It examined children born in 1999-2000 and used outpatient hospitalisation records to identify individuals who developed the disease by the time they were four years old.

Subjects in the study were then assessed to estimate their level of exposure to airborne pollutants both during pregnancy and up until their first birthday.

Being exposed to higher levels of air pollution at this time of life resulted in an increased risk of being diagnosed with the respiratory disease, the authors concluded.

They also noted that pollution caused by traffic presented the greatest danger.

Family history of asthma, exposure to cigarette smoke and premature birth are all recognised factors in the development of the illness during childhood, according to the NHS.

Posted by Claire Manning