Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 151, No. 1, Jan 1995, 27-32.
Effect of photochemical air pollution on acute respiratory symptoms in children
G Hoek and B Brunekreef
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Wageningen, The Netherlands.
In the spring and summer of 1989, an epidemiologic study of the acute
effects of photochemical air pollution on the respiratory health of 300
children 7 to 11 yr old was conducted. The children studied were a general
population sample of the children living in two rural towns in the
Netherlands. For these children, small pulmonary function decrements
associated with ambient ozone concentrations were reported previously. In
this paper, the association between photochemical ambient air pollution and
acute respiratory symptoms is evaluated. Occurrence of acute respiratory
symptoms was registered by the parents of the children in a diary on a
daily basis. The association of symptom prevalence and incidence with air
pollution was evaluated using a logistic regression model that took
auto-correlation of the residuals into account. Several photochemical
episodes occurred in the study period of 102 d. Hourly maximum ozone
concentrations ranged from 14 to 114 ppb. Daily average PM10 concentrations
ranged from 11 to 136 micrograms/m3. Levels of acid aerosol were low. No
associations of daily symptom prevalence or incidence with same-day or
previous day concentration levels of ozone, PM10, fine particle sulfate, or
nitrate were observed.
