Circulation-related air pollution associated with 4 million new cases of asthma in children each year



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The first global estimates of this type suggest that more than one in ten childhood asthma cases could be linked each year to traffic-related air pollution, according to an badessment of the current situation. impact on children's health in 194 countries and 125 major cities worldwide, published in The Lancet. Planetary Health Journal.

As 92% of cases develop in areas where the level of pollution by road traffic is below the threshold recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), the authors suggest that it might be necessary to review this limit.

"Nitrogen dioxide pollution appears to be a major risk factor for the incidence of asthma in children, both in developed and developing countries, particularly in urban areas," the report said. Dr. Susan Anenberg, Senior Author, George Washington University, USA. "Our results suggest that the WHO guideline for annual average NO2 concentrations may need to be re-examined and that road traffic emissions should be a target for mitigating exposure."

Globally, asthma is the most common noncommunicable disease in children and, according to the WHO. Circulation-related air pollution can lead to the development of asthma because pollutants can damage the airways and cause inflammation that triggers asthma in genetically predisposed children. Although the traffic-related pollutant is at the origin of the development of asthma, it has not yet been determined with certainty that US Environmental Protection Agency and Health Canada officials suggest probably exists a causal link between long-term nitrogen dioxide (NO2) exposure and development of asthma in children.

Globally, estimates suggest that there are 170 new cases of asthma related to traffic pollution per 100,000 children each year and that 13% of asthma cases infant diagnosed each year are related to road pollution.

Kuwait (550 cases per 100,000 children per year) was the country with the highest road-traffic-related asthma rate, followed by the United Arab Emirates (460 per 100,000) and Canada (450 per 100,000). 100,000). Of the 125 cities studied, the estimated rate of childhood asthma related to road pollution was very variable: from 83 cases per 100,000 children each year to Orlu in Nigeria to 690 cases per 100,000 children in Lima, Peru . These road-related asthma rates are influenced by asthma rates in general, as well as by pollution levels, and may underestimate actual levels in many low- and middle-income countries. . Indeed, asthma cases are often not diagnosed in these areas.

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