Polluted health
January 26, 2012
Researchers studied childhood asthma in two communities in southern California that have high levels of regional air pollution and where there are large roads close to residential neighborhoods for the study published Thursday online in the European Respiratory Journal.
"It is increasingly clear that exposure to traffic-related pollution both causes children to develop asthma and triggers asthma symptoms in children with asthma," Sylvia Brandt, the study's lead author and a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, told Deutsche Welle.
Brandt and her team analyzed earlier estimates of asthma cases attributable to pollution exposure and multiple surveys on healthcare visits by children with asthma to estimate the yearly costs of childhood asthma.
"Our findings suggest the cost has been substantially underestimated and steps must be taken to reduce the burden of traffic-related pollution," Brandt said.
European cities could be affected too
The team of researchers estimated the total economic burden of asthma cases and asthma exacerbations due to pollution in the two communities surveyed at approximately $18 million (13.7 million euros) a year, nearly half of which is due to new asthma cases caused by pollution.
"Traditional risk assessment methods for air pollution have underestimated both the overall burden of asthma and the cost of the disease associated with air pollution," Brandt said.
She added that although the study looked at Long Beach and Riverside, California, its results could also be applied to densely settled regions of Europe.
"While our study is specific to two communities in southern California, its approach is applicable and relevant to other urban areas, especially since previous research suggests that over 50 percent of the population in 10 major European cities live within 150 meters of major roads," she said.
Making the calculations
Traditional methods of assessing the risks and asthma-related costs of air pollution have not taken into account the causal relationship between pollution exposure and developing asthma, nor have they included the broader costs associated with the disease, Brandt said. Such studies put the price tag for each asthmatic kid at between $475 and $1,057.
To reach their higher estimate of $2,262, Brandt's team used a new method of calculating costs that included a wider range of expenses, such as sinus and ear infections associated with asthma, as well as income losses. Previous studies did not account for these costs.
"We feel that our estimates are more accurate because we include all the related healthcare needed for children with asthma," Brandt said.
Author: Sean Sinico
Editor: Holly Fox