LOC10:29
07:29 GMT
LONDON, June 21 (KUNA) -- People who are exposed to air pollution for a
long time are much more likely to have poorly-controlled asthma, researchers
said Tuesday.
Experts already know there is a link between air pollution and the
condition, but there are few studies on how long-term exposure affects
people's ability to manage their symptoms, according to a specialised Journal
here.
More than 480 people with asthma were asked about their condition,
including their use of medication over the last three months to a year, number
of asthma attacks and whether they required hospital treatment.
Some 44 percent of the group had well-controlled asthma, 29 percent had
partially controlled and 27 percent had uncontrolled asthma.
Uncontrolled asthma includes symptoms such as being woken up in the night
with shortness of breath, using quick-acting inhalers a lot, using steroids to
control asthma and going to hospital with symptoms.
The team of researchers from France then calculated each person's exposure
to levels of ozone (O3), nitrous oxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM10) at
their home address, using data from the French Institute of the Environment.
Writing in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health here, the
researchers said levels of ozone and particulate matter were strongly
associated with poorer asthma control.
Long-term exposure to ozone caused a 69 percent increased risk of
uncontrolled asthma, while particulate matter increased the risk by 35 percent.
Women and older people were more likely to have poorly-controlled asthma.
"Our results indicate that both ambient O3 and PM10 concentrations
jeopardise asthma control in adults," the authors said: "The results are
robust."
The findings held true irrespective of factors likely to influence the
results, such as smoking, being overweight and certain use of inhalers.
Samantha Walker, director of research and policy at Asthma UK, said: "What
is particularly interesting about this new research is that a link has now
been made with long-term exposure to air pollution and worsening asthma
symptoms.
"This really highlights the importance of measures to improve air quality,
such as congestion charging and low emission zones, and that people with
asthma living in highly-polluted areas need to pay particular attention to
making sure their asthma is well-managed". (end)
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