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Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus

BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported associations between respiratory outcomes in children and a range of self-reported, administrative or geographical indicators of traffic pollution. First-time investigation into the frequency of asthmatic symptoms among 7-8 year-old Cypriot children in 1999-...

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Autores principales: Middleton, Nicos, Yiallouros, Panayiotis, Nicolaou, Nicolaos, Kleanthous, Savvas, Pipis, Spiros, Zeniou, Maria, Demokritou, Philip, Koutrakis, Petros
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904737/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20565827
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-9-28
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author Middleton, Nicos
Yiallouros, Panayiotis
Nicolaou, Nicolaos
Kleanthous, Savvas
Pipis, Spiros
Zeniou, Maria
Demokritou, Philip
Koutrakis, Petros
author_facet Middleton, Nicos
Yiallouros, Panayiotis
Nicolaou, Nicolaos
Kleanthous, Savvas
Pipis, Spiros
Zeniou, Maria
Demokritou, Philip
Koutrakis, Petros
author_sort Middleton, Nicos
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported associations between respiratory outcomes in children and a range of self-reported, administrative or geographical indicators of traffic pollution. First-time investigation into the frequency of asthmatic symptoms among 7-8 year-old Cypriot children in 1999-2000 showed increased prevalence in the capital Nicosia compared to other areas. Geographical differences on an island the size of Cyprus may reflect environmental and/or lifestyle factors. This study investigates the relationship between self-reported symptoms and residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions among Nicosia schoolchildren. METHODS: The addresses of children in the metropolitan area of Nicosia who participated in the original survey (N = 1,735) were geo-coded and the level of exposure of each child was assessed using distance- and emission-based indicators (i.e. estimated levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides emissions due to motor vehicles on main roads around the residence). Odds ratios of wheezing and asthma diagnosis in relation to levels of exposure were estimated in logistic regression models adjusting for person-based factors, co-morbidity and intra-school clustering. RESULTS: We found an increased risk of wheezing at distances less than 50 m from a main road and/or only among those experiencing the highest levels of exposure. The strongest effect estimates were observed when exposure was defined in terms of the cumulative burden at all roads around the residence. Adjusted odds ratios for current wheezing were 2.33 (95% CI 1.27, 4.30) amongst the quartile of participants exposed to the highest levels of PM at all roads 50 m of their residence and 2.14 (95% CI 1.05, 4.35) for NOx, with no effect at intermediate levels of exposure. While the direction of effect was apparent at longer distances, differences were generally not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Children experiencing the highest burden of emissions in Nicosia seem to be at a higher risk of reporting asthmatic symptoms. Due to the small number of children residing at close proximity to main roads and lack of evidence of risk at intermediate levels of exposure or longer distances, the observed pattern alone does not explain the generally higher prevalence observed in urban Nicosia compared to other areas.
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spelling pubmed-29047372010-07-16 Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus Middleton, Nicos Yiallouros, Panayiotis Nicolaou, Nicolaos Kleanthous, Savvas Pipis, Spiros Zeniou, Maria Demokritou, Philip Koutrakis, Petros Environ Health Research BACKGROUND: Several studies have reported associations between respiratory outcomes in children and a range of self-reported, administrative or geographical indicators of traffic pollution. First-time investigation into the frequency of asthmatic symptoms among 7-8 year-old Cypriot children in 1999-2000 showed increased prevalence in the capital Nicosia compared to other areas. Geographical differences on an island the size of Cyprus may reflect environmental and/or lifestyle factors. This study investigates the relationship between self-reported symptoms and residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions among Nicosia schoolchildren. METHODS: The addresses of children in the metropolitan area of Nicosia who participated in the original survey (N = 1,735) were geo-coded and the level of exposure of each child was assessed using distance- and emission-based indicators (i.e. estimated levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides emissions due to motor vehicles on main roads around the residence). Odds ratios of wheezing and asthma diagnosis in relation to levels of exposure were estimated in logistic regression models adjusting for person-based factors, co-morbidity and intra-school clustering. RESULTS: We found an increased risk of wheezing at distances less than 50 m from a main road and/or only among those experiencing the highest levels of exposure. The strongest effect estimates were observed when exposure was defined in terms of the cumulative burden at all roads around the residence. Adjusted odds ratios for current wheezing were 2.33 (95% CI 1.27, 4.30) amongst the quartile of participants exposed to the highest levels of PM at all roads 50 m of their residence and 2.14 (95% CI 1.05, 4.35) for NOx, with no effect at intermediate levels of exposure. While the direction of effect was apparent at longer distances, differences were generally not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Children experiencing the highest burden of emissions in Nicosia seem to be at a higher risk of reporting asthmatic symptoms. Due to the small number of children residing at close proximity to main roads and lack of evidence of risk at intermediate levels of exposure or longer distances, the observed pattern alone does not explain the generally higher prevalence observed in urban Nicosia compared to other areas. BioMed Central 2010-06-18 /pmc/articles/PMC2904737/ /pubmed/20565827 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-9-28 Text en Copyright ©2010 Middleton et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Middleton, Nicos
Yiallouros, Panayiotis
Nicolaou, Nicolaos
Kleanthous, Savvas
Pipis, Spiros
Zeniou, Maria
Demokritou, Philip
Koutrakis, Petros
Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title_full Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title_fullStr Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title_full_unstemmed Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title_short Residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in Nicosia, Cyprus
title_sort residential exposure to motor vehicle emissions and the risk of wheezing among 7-8 year-old schoolchildren: a city-wide cross-sectional study in nicosia, cyprus
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2904737/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20565827
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-9-28
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