SACRAMENTO, Apr 23, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Childhood asthma rates could
increase as much as 30 percent with exposure to higher levels of traffic-related
air pollution, a California study suggests.
The study, published in the journal of Environmental Health Perspectives, is the
latest to come from the Southern California Children's Health Study, a project
pioneered by the Air Resources Board in the early 1990s.
The eight-year study followed 217 non-asthmatic children from a wide area of
Southern California. Home air monitors allowed scientists to compare the
children's exposure to air pollution and newly diagnosed cases of asthma.
The study said higher amounts of nitrogen dioxide, a constituent of smog, are
associated with the development of childhood asthma.
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