Air pollution damages children's health

Exhaust gases and smog are a significant health risk for children

03/11/2011

Air pollution has a significant impact on the birth weight of children. In addition, suffer „Infants exposed to elevated ozone levels are more likely to experience bronchitis or respiratory disease“, reports the family and educational economist C. Katharina Spieß with reference to the data of the Berlin Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and the Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) in the journal „Journal of Health Economics“.

The SOEP of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) has been gathering a wide variety of data on social development for years, including information on birth weight among newborns. According to the researcher, data from around 2,000 children from the years 2002 to 2007 were included in the current study. This information was compared with the measurements of the Federal Environmental Agency for the pollution of air with particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. C. Katharina Spieß and Katja Coenus found a clear correlation between air pollution and the birth weight of the children. In addition, the risk of bronchitis and other respiratory diseases significantly influenced by the air quality, stressed the researchers.

Lower birth weight with high carbon monoxide concentration
According to the scientists, the current study shows that in regions with particularly high carbon monoxide (CO) levels children have a significantly lower birth weight than in less-stressed regions. On average, the babies weighed 289 grams less at high carbon monoxide concentrations, emphasized C. Katharina Spieß. This is „a clear indication of how much air pollution can harm children already in the womb“, continues the family and education economist. As the cause of the lower birth weight, the expert called the poorer supply of oxygen to the baby with elevated carbon monoxide levels in the air. Since the carbon monoxide concentration is significantly increased, especially in busy regions, the birth weight of the children is particularly low, explained the researcher.

Risk of respiratory disease increases with air pollution
According to family and education economist C. Katharina Spieß, the poor quality of the air is not only associated with a lower birth weight of newborns, but also increases the risk of bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. Here the relationship is primarily to be found at elevated ozone levels. Thus, the health of two to three-year-old infants in areas that are affected by so-called summer smog, especially threatened. Summer smog occurs especially in sunny weather in high-traffic regions, where the term describes the load of ground-level air layers by an increased ozone concentration. Infants inhale significantly more oxygen in the affected regions than adults, but their immune systems are not yet fully developed, according to the scientists' explanation for the measurably increased risk of bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.

Protecting the urban population from negative health consequences
Overall, the results of the Berlin researchers are quite worrying and argue in favor of preferring children to live in rural areas with the highest possible air quality. However, this possibility is far from being available to all affected families and policy-makers must urgently address the question of how air quality in cities can be sustainably improved. For even before the current study other studies have clearly shown the negative health effects of air pollution. The so-called controversial establishment of so-called environmental zones in the city center area seems a step in the right direction, but it does not go far enough to protect all city dwellers from the negative impact of traffic. New models that help to significantly reduce car traffic are needed. An expansion of the use of public transport (public transport) seems to be imperative in terms of the health of urban residents. (Fp)

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Picture: Günter Havlena