Air Pollution Harms Healthy Kids' Lung Function

Carbon from vehicle exhaust finds its way into youngsters' airways, study finds

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

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WEDNESDAY, July 5 (HealthDay News) -- Air pollution, including tiny carbon particles from motor exhaust, works its way into children's airways and diminishes their lung function, British researchers say.

Reporting in the July 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers found a 13 percent reduction in children's "forced vital capacity" -- a measure of lung function -- for every one micrometer-squared increase of carbon content in their lungs.

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"Higher levels of exposure [to carbon particles] are associated with lower levels of lung function," concluded one of the study's authors, Dr. Jonathan Grigg, who was a senior lecturer in pediatrics at the University of Leicester in England at the time of the study.

Black carbon particles are a major component of air pollution, according to background information in the study. This type of pollution comes largely from motor vehicle emissions. Past research has suggested that carbon pollution might harm children's lung function.

To confirm the association, the researchers recruited 114 healthy children from Leicester -- a medium-sized city with air quality that falls within the United Kingdom's acceptable range.

All of the children were between 8 and 15 years old, had normal levels of physical activity and had been living in their current homes for at least one year.

The researchers collected sputum (mucous) samples from the children and tested their lung function using a method called spirometry. They were able to get sufficiently sized samples from 64 of the children.

They tested the sputum samples to measure the carbon content.

Grigg and his colleagues found that the more carbon present in the sputum, the greater the reduction in lung function.

For each one micrometer-squared increase in carbon content, there was a 17 percent reduction in forced expiratory volume in one second, and a 13 percent reduction in forced vital capacity. Forced vital capacity measures how fast and how hard you can exhale.

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