Eur Respir J 2002; 19:690-698
Copyright ©ERS Journals Ltd 2002
Traffic-related air pollution and respiratory health during the first 2 yrs of life
U. Gehring1,2,
J. Cyrys1,
G. Sedlmeir3,
B. Brunekreef4,
T. Bellander5,
P. Fischer6,
C.P. Bauer7,
D. Reinhardt8,
H.E. Wichmann1,2 and
J. Heinrich1
1 GSF-National Research Centre for Environment and Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Neuherberg and 2 Chair of Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and 3 City of Munich, Dept of Environment and Health, Munich, Germany. 4 Environmental and Occupational Health Group, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. 5 Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. 6 RIVMNational Institute of Public Health and Environment, Bilthoven, the Netherlands. 7 Dept of Paediatrics, Technical University of Munich and 8 Dept of Pediatrics, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Munich, Germany
CORRESPONDENCE: U. Gehring, GSF-National Research Centre for Environment and Health, Institute of Epidemiology, Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, D-85764, Neuherberg, Germany. Fax: 49 8931873380. E-mail: gehring@gsf.de
Keywords: air pollution, geographic information systems, infants, respiratory symptoms, traffic
Received: August 1, 2001
Accepted November 22, 2001
This study was supported by the EU grant ENV4 CT97-0506.
As part of an international collaborative study on the impact of Traffic-Related Air Pollution on Childhood Asthma (TRAPCA), the health effects associated with long-term exposure to particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 µm (PM2.5), PM2.5 absorbance, and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were analysed.
The German part of the TRAPCA study used data from subpopulations of two ongoing birth cohort studies (German Infant Nutrition Intervention Programme (GINI) and Influences of Lifestyle Related Factors on the Human Immune System and Development of Allergies in Children (LISA)) based in the city of Munich. Geographic information systems (GIS)-based exposure modelling was used to estimate traffic-related air pollutants at the birth addresses of 1,756 infants. Logistic regression was used to analyse possible health effects and potential confounding factors were adjusted for.
The ranges in estimated exposures to PM2.5, PM2.5 absorbance, and NO2 were 11.921.9 µg·m3, 1.384.39x105 m1, and 19.566.9 µg·m3, respectively. Significant associations between these pollutants and cough without infection (odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval (CI)): 1.34 (1.111.61), 1.32 (1.101.59), and 1.40 (1.121.75), respectively) and dry cough at night (OR (95% CI): 1.31 (1.071.60), 1.27 (1.041.55), and 1.36 (1.071.74), respectively) in the first year of life were found. In the second year of life, these effects were attenuated.
There was some indication of an association between traffic-related air pollution and symptoms of cough. Due to the very young age of the infants, it was too early to draw definitive conclusions from this for the development of asthma.
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Copyright © 2002 by the European Respiratory Society.
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