Effects of Air Pollution on Children's Pulmonary Health

AFRIM TABAKU *, Gazmend Bejtja *, Silvana Bala **, Ervin Toci *,
Jerina Resuli*

* Public Health Institute, Tirana,
**University Hospital for Lung Disease, Tirana

 Abstract

Introduction: Many reports regarding the effects of air pollution on children's respiratory health have appeared in the scientific literature. Some investigators found increases in persistent cough and phlegm, bronchitis, and early respiratory infections in communities with poor air quality. In several air-pollution epidemiological studies, investigators have addressed respiratory health effects of exposure to relatively low levels of air pollution.

Tirana is a city that sustains a rapidly growing population and it has serious air pollution problems, especially by particulate matter, which result from the dense population, development of construction industry and the resultant traffic. The purpose of this survey was to compare the pulmonary function of children living in urban area of Tirana city, with children living in suburban area of the city.

Material and methods: This survey is carried out during 2004 – 2005 period on 238 children living in urban area and in 72 children living in suburban area, measuring dynamic pulmonary function. A questionnaire was used to collect data on current respiratory symptoms, allergy diagnosed by the physician, socioeconomic status, education and smoking habit of parents, presence of animals, synthetic carpets and moulds in their houses. The selection of schools, and children included in the this survey was done by randomized method. Also, we have measured air pollutants, like particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone and total suspended matter.

Results: Comparing the results of values of pulmonary function of two groups of children, we have shown that differences were significant ( p <0.001), whereas the odd ratios of symptoms were for cough (OR) 1.82 and phlegm (OR) 1.36. The level of particulate matter (PM10) is oscillated between 108 - 369 µg/m3, Total suspended matter (TSP) 102 - 754 µg/m3, whereas the levels of other pollutants have resulted within recommended levels of World Health Organization (WHO)

Conclusions: The results of this survey suggest that air pollution is associated with respiratory health of children causing a slight decrease in values of pulmonary function in children of urban area compared with those of suburban area. The concentrations of TSP and PM10 in air of Tirana City exceed the TLVs recommended by WHO.

                                  
                                                  INSTITUTI I SHENDETIT PUBLIK