Acute effects of urban ambient air pollution on respiratory symptoms, asthma medication use, and doctor visits for asthma in a cohort of Australian children

Abstract

We enrolled a cohort of primary school children with a history of wheeze (n=148) in an 11-month longitudinal study to examine the relationship between ambient air pollution and respiratory morbidity. We obtained daily air pollution (ozone, particulate matter less than 10μm, and nitrogen dioxide), meteorological, and pollen data. One hundred twenty-five children remained in the final analysis. We used logistic regression models to determine associations between air pollution and respiratory symptoms, asthma medication use, and doctor visits for asthma. There were no associations between ambient ozone concentrations and respiratory symptoms, asthma medication use, and doctor visits for asthma. There was, however, an association between PM10 concentrations and doctor visits for asthma (RR=1.11, 95% CI=1.04–1.19) and between NO2 concentration and wet cough (RR=1.05, 95% CI=1.003–1.10) in single-pollutant models. The associations remained significant in multipollutant models. There was no consistent evidence that children with wheeze, positive histamine challenge, and doctor diagnosis of asthma reacted differently to air pollution from children with wheeze and doctor diagnosis of asthma and children with wheeze only. There were significant associations between PM10 levels and doctor visits for asthma and an association between NO2 levels and the prevalence of wet cough. We were, however, unable to demonstrate that current levels of ambient air pollution in western Sydney have a coherent range of adverse health effects on children with a history of wheezing.