Air Pollution Harms Healthy Kids' Lung Function

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According to Grigg, the most likely explanation for this decrease in function is that these particles restricted the growth of the children's lungs.

The association held true even after the researchers controlled for other factors such as exposure to second-hand smoke, body mass index and gender.

To ensure that reduced lung function wasn't causing an increase in carbon deposits, the researchers also measured the carbon content found in the lungs of nine children with asthma, who have naturally lower lung function than healthy children.

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Surprisingly, the researchers found less carbon in the lungs of children with asthma. Grigg said the researchers suspect this may be because people with asthma may process inhaled particles differently than people with healthy lungs do, and that in people with asthma, carbon may deposit itself in different cells.

Dr. Jonathan Field, director of the pediatric allergy and asthma clinic at New York University Medical Center/Bellevue in New York City, said that because people with asthma take medications that relax the airways, they may be able to better expel these particles. Or, he said, "if there's already airway constriction, there may be less particles coming in."

The damage to children's lungs is cumulative, Grigg stressed. "Particle pollution exerts a small negative effect on lung function growth, but since the effect is continuous, it may have a large negative effect when acting over several years," he said. "This study is another piece in the jigsaw showing that air pollution from traffic has adverse consequences," he said.

However, that doesn't mean that people living near busy traffic need to move, Grigg said. On an individual basis, the pollution-linked lung function changes are quite small, he said.

"We can't avoid inhaled particulate pollution. These data are important when doing the cost/benefit analysis for different, less-polluting fuels. This study reminds us that there is a health cost of burning fossil fuels, even though at present these fuels bring many benefits," he said.

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