A new study says that pollution levels have a great impact on the lung function of children. In fact, after following more than 2,000 children in the Los Angeles area, they discovered that cleaner air improved their lung function.
These children who grew up in Southern California have better lung function today than their counterparts from the mid-1990s thanks to efforts in reducing air pollution in the area. The historic study started two decades ago wherein they followed 2,120 children in different periods: from 1994 to 1998, 1997 to 2001 and 2007 to 2011.
University of Southern California's Children's Health Study reports, "We found that long-term improvements in air quality were associated with statistically and clinically positive effects on lung function growth in children."
The significant improvement in the lung function of children can be credited to stricter emission standards and comprehensive data on air pollution collected in the area since the 1990s that have created a downward turn in common air pollutants from fuel combustion. Efforts were made to continuously monitor air pollutants since 1994 and implementation of strict rules were initiated.
The study involving children ages 11 to 15, will be published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.
Southern California has been bombarded with high levels of air pollution since the 1990s due to its large motor vehicle fleet. It is home to the country's largest seaport and its natural landscape makes way for polluted air to be trapped over the basin.
"We expect that our results are relevant for areas outside Southern California, since the pollutants we found most strongly linked to improved health - nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter - are elevated in any urban environment," said W. James Gauderman, the study's lead author and professor of preventative medicine at the university's Keck School of Medicine.
The professor added as reported by NewsEveryday, "One of our most important findings was that the percentage of children with abnormally low lung function at age 15 declined from nearly 8 percent, to less than 4 percent in the most recent group."
Meanwhile, a study from England dubbed as the Escape Project states that exposure to air pollution may result in reductions in lung function in schoolchildren. They also suggested that these levels can also be paralleled to the population as a whole.
"Our results suggest that better air quality in the future will lead to even better lung health," Gauderman said.