Abstract
Outdoor air pollution has been associated with decrements in lung function and lung function growth in school-age children. Lung function effects have not been examined in preschoolers, with the exception of one study on minute ventilation in newborns. Our goal was to assess the relationship between long- and short term exposure to traffic-related air pollution and interrupter resistance in four-year old children.
Lung function was measured using the interrupter resistance method in children participating in a Dutch birth cohort study. Long-term average air pollution concentrations of fine particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide and soot at the residential address at birth were assessed with land-use regression models. Daily average air pollution concentrations on the clinical examination day were obtained from the National Air Quality Monitoring Network.
Significant associations were found between long-term average air pollution concentrations and interrupter resistance. Interrupter resistance increased by 0.04 kPa.l−1.s (95% confidence interval 0.01–0.07) per interquartile range increase (3.3 μg·m−3) in fine particle concentration. Short-term exposure was not associated with interrupter resistance.
Long-term exposure to traffic-related air pollution was associated with increased interrupter resistance in 4-year old children, supporting previous birth cohort studies reporting effects of air pollution on subjectively reported respiratory symptoms in pre-school children.
- ERS