The Effects of Indoor Pollution on Arizona Children

Abstract

The respiratory health of a large group of Arizona school children who have been exposed to indoor pollutants--tobacco smoke and home cooking fumes--is reported. A significant relationship was found between parental smoking and symptoms of cough, wheeze, and sputum production. Also, children in homes where gas cooking fuel was used had higher rates of cough than children in homes where electricity was used. No differences in pulmonary function or yearly lung growth rates occurred among subjects grouped by exposure to tobacco smoke or cooking fuel. Thus, parental smoking and home cooking fuel affected cross-sectional respiratory symptom rates in a large group of Arizona school children. Study of pulmonary function, however, revealed no lung function or lung growth effects during 4 yr of study.

Passive Smoking Effects on Wheezy Bronchitis

“…Other studies have also found significant associations between persistent cough and parental smoking [2,13,22] between bronchial asthma and parental smoking [6,8,11,12,14,15,17,23,24]. Our demonstration that passive smoking significantly affects wheezy bronchitis is consistent with results obtained in a representative survey of schoolchildren in different parts of the world [1,6,11,17,18,25].…”

“…The most important risk factor for the development of chronic respiratory symptoms, childhood asthma, chronic cough, and wheezing is cigarette smoking [17,18]. Studies in schoolchildren have shown a significant association between parental smoking and the risk of childhood asthma, chronic cough, occurrence of wheeze and respiratory conditions [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Evidence is accumulating of a relationship between parents smoking and respiratory symptoms in children [24].…”

Secondhand and Prenatal Tobacco Smoke Exposure

“…• frequency and severity of asthma exacerbationsʈ ʈRefs 106,110,111,128,134,140,149,156,157, and 160 -185.…”

“…• persistent decreased lung function, [106][107][108][109]137,139,149,154 amplified in children with cystic fibrosis, 16 • infections, 137,139,151,[154][155][156][157] • bronchiolitis, 158 wheezing, 47 and use of bronchodilating drugs, 47…”

Expressing urine from a gel disposable diaper for biomonitoring using phthalates as an example

“…The extensive use of gas appliances in homes suggests that large populations of children are at risk of exposure (IEH, 1995). Nitrogen dioxide levels have been associated with increased risk of cough and wheezy bronchitis in children (Dodge, 1982;Pershagen et al, 1995), and rises in ambient nitrogen dioxide levels of 30 μg/m 3 are reported to increase the risk of respiratory illness in children by 20% (Hasselblad et al, 1992). Asthmatic children may be particularly susceptible to the effect of nitrogen dioxide, experiencing airflow limitation and increased use of inhalant therapy (Jarvis et al, 1998;Ng et al, 2001).…”