Do the maxima of air pollutants coincide with the incedence of childhood asthma in Athens, Greece?

Abstract

In the present study an assessment of the influence of the ambient air pollution on the
 incidence of the Childhood Asthma Admissions (CAA) is attempted by using cross spectrum
 analysis. The medical data concern the hospital registries of the three main Children’s
 Hospitals of Athens for the 14-year period, 1987-2000. The air pollution data used in this
 study were mean monthly concentrations of CO, Black Smoke (BS), NOx, SO2, and O3,
 averaged over all the available stations, for each air pollutant, in the network of the Greek
 Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works (GMEPPPW) for the
 aforementioned 14-year period. The performed analysis revealed that a pronounced seasonal
 variation of asthma exacerbation among Athenian children does exist, rising during the cold
 damp period in pre-schoolers and peaking around May in the schoolchildren. We found that
 asthma admissions are associated with ambient air pollution at different frequencies. Asthma
 exacerbation among the first age group (0-4 years) is strongly depended on winter air
 pollution whereas older children (5-14 years) appear to be more vulnerable to the exposure of
 primary air pollutants mainly during late spring. Our findings strengthen the aspect that
 weather conditions such as sea breeze, mainly happen at the late spring or early summer in
 association with air pollution episodes could affect childhood asthma exacerbation.