Washington, Jan 4 (EFE).- Ozone and particulate matter levels are linked to non-viral asthma attacks in children and adolescents living in low-income urban areas, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health ( NIH) of the United States.
The study, which is published Wednesday in The Lancet Planetary Health, was led by Matthew Altman, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine.
Researchers examined the relationship between levels of two pollutants — ozone and particulate matter — and asthma attacks in the absence of viruses among 208 children ages 6 to 17 in low-income neighborhoods in nine US cities.
Scientists determined that asthma attacks had a non-viral cause in almost 30% of children, and this is two to three times the proportion that other studies have found in children who do not live in urban areas.
“The strong link this study demonstrates between specific air pollutants in children living in impoverished urban communities and non-viral asthma attacks strengthens the notion that reductions in air pollution would improve human health,” said Hugh Auchincloss, acting director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Asthma is the result of chronic inflammation of the airways. During an attack, its lining swells, the surrounding muscles contract, and there is excess mucus, all of which narrows the airway.
Air pollution with gases emitted by factories and vehicle traffic disproportionately affects economically depressed communities and Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians, according to a study by the University of Virginia funded by the US space agency NASA and the National Foundation of Science.
Asthma attacks caused by viral respiratory tract infections have been studied extensively, but attacks that occur independent of those infections have not been the subject of as much research.