Cent Eur J Public Health 1999, 7(2):77-79
Effects of reduced air pollution on children's pulmonary function
- 1 Department of Hygiene and Ecology, Higher Medical Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
- 2 Department of Pathophysiology, Higher Medical Institute, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Air pollution is one of the most important risk factors of respiratory diseases. We found worsened health indices in 10 year-old children (n = 61; age = 10.4 ± 0.4 years; height = 142 ± 7 cm; mean ± SD) during a 1986 study in one of the most pollution endangered regions of Bulgaria (total suspended particle matter, TSPM = 520 ± 61 µg/m3; mean ± SE and annual mean concentration of SO2 = 98 ± 19 µg/m3; mean ± SE). Both vital capacity (VC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) were consistently lower (X = 88.5 % and 82.5 %, respectively) than Bulgarian reference values. Because of the strong industrial decrease in this region in recent years, the air pollution was reduced significantly. In 1989 TSPM was 460 ± 40 µg/m3 and SO2 = 60 ± 10 µg/m3; in 1992 - 350 ± 27 µg/m3 and 60 ± 9 µg/m3, and in 1996 - 187 ± 9 µg/m3 and 60 ± 12 µg/m3. In 1996 we conducted a study in the same region to determine the effects of reduced outdoor air pollution on children's lung function. A comprehensive lung function assessment was performed on 97 children (mean age 10.4 ± 0.6 years, height = 145 ± 6 cm). The FEV1 VC were 103 ± 9 % and 100 ± 9 % respectively. There was a tendency of lower values of MEF(50 %) (94 ± 9 %) and Single Breath Transfer Factor - T(L,CO)(93 ± 9 %). Children with passive smoking home exposure had lower values of T(L,CO) than those of the remainder by 4.4 % (p = 0.038). In conclusion, the results of this study convincingly indicate that the reduction of main industrial pollutants is followed by improvement of lung function indices.
Published: June 1, 1999 Show citation