Babies and toddlers exposed to air pollution are more likely to quickly develop asthma, according to research by US-based doctors and scientists.
"Mean fine particulate matter and mean nitrogen dioxide air pollution during the first 3 years of life were associated both with asthma incidence by early and by middle childhood," the team said, in a study published by the American Medical Association (AMA).
From institutions including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, the researchers said infants in “minoritized families” seemed to face a higher risk, which they put down to them having less access to cleaner air.
Black babies in "densely populated communities characterized by fewer opportunities and resources and multiple environmental coexposures" seemed to be more likely to become asthmatic later, they concluded in the study, published in late February.
The researchers called on local authorities to make more effort in reducing air pollution and for the "creation of greater environmental, educational and health equity at a community level."
Other researchers have recently posited links between growing antimicrobial resistance and air pollution, which has been shown to affect drivers and passengers sitting in their cars to a greater extent than previously estimated.
Around two-thirds of the world’s air pollution-related deaths are in Asia, but levels of air pollution in Europe and North America remain above levels deemed healthy, according to previous research.
