SMOG HURTS KIDS LUNG-CAPACITY EFFECTS MAY LAST, STUDY FINDS.Byline: Erik Nelson Staff Writer In the most convincing evidence yet that smog retards children's lung growth, a new study shows that dirty air can lead to long-term and possibly irreversible health problems, University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission researchers found. In a study to be released today, the researchers reported that ozone - for decades the nation's main indicator of the severity of air pollution - is not the cause of long-term health impact. The study - the first to follow a large group of children through years of development - correlated levels of specific types of pollutants - ozone, nitric and hydrochloric acids, nitrogen oxides and particulates - with lung capacity growth in children in Lancaster, San Dimas and 10 other Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, communities. ``We've known for years that air pollution can cause acute problems, like coughing, watery eyes, tightness in the chest,'' said James Gauderman, assistant professor of preventive medicine preventive medicine, branch of medicine dealing with the prevention of disease and the maintenance of good health practices. Until recently preventive medicine was largely the domain of the U.S. at USC's Keck School of Medicine. ``Prior to this study, we really didn't know if there were chronic effects that were long term in nature and perhaps irreversible.'' The study, to be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, recruited classes of about 3,600 fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders in 12 communities. The researchers measured the children's lung capacity from 1993 through 1997 and compared the measurements with those of children in three relatively smog-free communities north of Santa Barbara Santa Barbara (săn'tə bär`brə, –bərə), city (1990 pop. 85,571), seat of Santa Barbara co., S Calif., on the Pacific Ocean; inc. 1850. . The effects were noticed mainly in the 1,800 studied fourth-graders, who are now high school seniors and are still being monitored for additional results to be reported to be spoken of; to be mentioned, whether favorably or unfavorably. See also: Report later. ``It doesn't look like the decrease in lung function growth that we observed in the fourth-grade group is likely to be reversed based on our observation of the seventh- and 10th-grade groups,'' Gauderman said. Previous studies had shown a link between reduced lung capacity and living in smoggy Southern California, but the new study found that lung capacity growth of children in the most polluted community, San Dimas, was about 10 percent lower than their peers in relatively clean communities. Lung capacity growth for children in Lancaster, which has moderate amounts of most pollutants, was about 6 percent lower than those in the control group. ``We have always in the past estimated that living in highly polluted areas, a person could easily suffer 5 percent loss in lung function over their lifetime,'' said Jerry Martin
Jerry Lindsey Martin (born May 11, 1949 in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S.) is a former player in Major League Baseball. He is the son of major league pitcher Barney Martin. , a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the "clean air agency" of the state of California in the United States. Established originally in 1967, it is a part of the California Environmental Protection Agency, an organization which reports directly to the California , which paid for most of the study. A 10 percent loss, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the agency's health experts, could well decide whether a person suffering an asthma attack would need hospitalization or not. While it was difficult to sufficiently distinguish most types of pollution to determine their individual impacts, the researchers were surprised by what they found in the mountain community of Lake Arrowhead Lake Arrowhead may refer to:
Since air quality authorities have monitored air pollution, such high- elevation communities in the eastern end of the Inland Empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. have shown the nation's greatest levels of ozone. Lake Arrowhead was unique in that it has high ozone levels, but low levels of other pollutants. Children there showed a lung capacity growth of more than 12 percent a year, nearly as high as those in the nonsmog communities. By contrast, the eastern Los Angeles County community of San Dimas showed only 11 percent growth per year, and had high levels of all pollutants, including the highest of all communities in nitric and hydrochloric acids. CAPTION(S): chart Chart: LUNG CAPACITY The lung volume of children in smoggy neighborhoods grew significantly less than that of their peers in less-polluted communities, a new University of Southern California study shows. The graph below shows the difference in lung capacity among children, ages 10 to 14, who live in polluted areas and unpolluted areas. SOURCE: USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. Bradford Mar/Staff Artist |
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