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Respiratory health status of children from two different air pollution exposure settings of Sri Lanka: A cross‐sectional study
Author(s) -
Nandasena Sumal,
Wickremasinghe Ananda R.,
Sathiakumar Nalini
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
american journal of industrial medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.7
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1097-0274
pISSN - 0271-3586
DOI - 10.1002/ajim.22020
Subject(s) - medicine , environmental health , sri lanka , indoor air quality , residence , air pollution , cross sectional study , air quality index , public health , demography , socioeconomics , geography , environmental engineering , environmental science , chemistry , organic chemistry , pathology , sociology , tanzania , nursing , meteorology
Background Health effects due to air pollution is becoming a major public health problem with growing traffic congestion and establishment of small‐ to medium‐scale industries with poor emission controls in urban cities of Sri Lanka. Methods Respiratory health status of 7‐ to 10‐year‐old children in two settings (urban and semi‐urban) was assessed using standard questionnaires. Information on socio‐demographic characteristics and potential determinants of both outdoor and indoor air pollutants exposure levels were also obtained. The respiratory health status of children in the two settings was compared. Results We found that children from the urban setting had a significantly higher prevalence of wheezing within the last 12 months as compared to children from the semi‐urban setting (adjusted OR = 2.02; 95% CI = 1.13–3.59). Indoor cooking with unclean fuels was a risk factor for wheezing independent of the area of residence (adjusted OR = 1.57; 95% CI = 1.01–2.46). Conclusions Poor indoor air quality was a major determinant of wheezing for the overall study group. Children from urban areas of Sri Lanka have poorer respiratory health status as compared to children from semi‐urban areas. Besides poor outdoor air quality, this difference may also be due to other unexplored factors which may differ between urban and semi‐urban areas in Sri Lanka. Am. J. Ind. Med. 55:1137–1145, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.