Air pollutants are known both to cause asthma and to exacerbate its symptoms in individuals with the serious inflammatory disorder already affecting around 300 million people around the world.
New research in California suggests asthma problems are more likely to affect the poor and those from ethnic minorities. The study was carried out by the Chronic Disease Program at the University of California and Los Angeles Centre for Health Policy Research, and funded by the California Air Resources Board.
It concluded that those in the lowest income populations, along with racial and ethnic minorities, face exposure to higher levels of certain air pollutants than fellow Californians who are Caucasian and have a higher income that increases the asthma-related problems they suffer.
Those problems include increased asthma attacks and use of the daily medications required to keep the condition’s symptoms, such as breathlessness, wheezing and coughing, under control. Those with a low-income or in a racial or ethnic minority are also more likely to require hospitalisation to treat their symptoms.
In California, around 3.5 million and 900,000 children have asthma, while many more suffer from breathing problems that are symptomatic of the disease. The latest research, led by Dr Ying-Ying Meng, confirms the findings of previous studies that showed children and the elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, and the poorest in society in California have demonstrably more asthma attacks and greater symptoms than another parts of the population where the condition has been diagnosed.
Dr Meng’s team looked at the asthma difficulties suffered by African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Native Alaskans, Asians and Pacific Islanders to deduce their cause. They compared higher levels of air pollutants with increased vulnerability because of socio-economic status, residence and occupational exposure, which is known to increase the risk of asthma depending on the job.
The team concluded that higher levels of air pollutants, such as smog and ozone pollution, had the greatest effect on those groups, particularly for children and adults living below the federal poverty level. Those who live close to busy roads were also more likely to be hospitalised because of asthma symptoms.
The study also revealed that asthma attacks increased on the days when air quality exceeded state or federal standards.
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