Local exposure to traffic on a freeway (motorway) has serious adverse effects on children's lung development, which could result in unhealthy lung function in later life, according to an Online/Article published by The Lancet.
Several studies have shown that lung function in children is affected by urban, regional air pollution and exposure to traffic can result in adverse respiratory effects, including increased rates of asthma and other respiratory diseases. Some studies have shown that lung-function deficiency is related to residential exposure to traffic. However, whether traffic exposure adversely affects lung-function growth during the period of rapid lung development that occurs between the age of 10 and 18 years is unknown. This question is important in view of the established relation between diminished lung function in adulthood and morbidity and mortality rates.
W James Gauderman (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA) and colleagues compared lung-function measurements from 3677 children from 12 southern California communities that represent a wide range in regional air quality. In children who lived within 500 m of a major road, 8-year lung growth was significantly reduced compared with those who lived 1500 m or more from a freeway. The investigators report that both local exposure to freeways and regional air pollution had detrimental, and independent, effects on lung-function growth. There was a pronounced deficit in percentage-predicted lung function at 18 years of age for those living within 500 m of a freeway.