The Epidemiology of Air Pollution and Childhood Lung Diseases

Air pollution is omnipresent and studies in the last two decades or more have consistently associated it with adverse health outcomes. Children are particularly vulnerable because their organ systems are still developing and their protective mechanisms are not fully developed. In order to protect public health, the World Health Organization and different national regulatory authorities have set ambient air quality standards. However, there is evidence that such standards may not be adequate because the levels at which air pollutants are associated with respiratory health outcomes are sometimes much lower than the regulatory standards. To date the evidence of a causal relation between air pollution and asthma exacerbation is most convincing. Studies have also demonstrated a relationship between air pollution and new onset asthma, bronchitis, and bronchiolitis but arguably the evidence is not sufficient to draw a definitive causal relationship.