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Carbon monoxide pollution and lung function in urban compared with rural Mongolian children
Author(s) -
DASHDENDEV BAIGALMAA,
FUKUSHIMA LYNN K.,
WOO MARLYN S.,
GANBAATAR ERDENETUYA,
WARBURTON DAVID
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-1843.2011.01958.x
Subject(s) - medicine , urbanization , environmental health , capital city , smoke , lung function , rural area , tobacco smoke , asthma , demography , lung , geography , economic geography , pathology , sociology , economic growth , meteorology , economics
Background and objective: Mongolia is experiencing rapid urbanization, and this presents a unique opportunity to assess the effects of this process on the lung health of children. Methods: Two cross‐sectional cohorts of school‐age children (5–15 years of age) from the capital (Ulaanbaatar) ( n = 116) and a rural district (Tuv Aimag) ( n = 108) were studied. Demographical information, exposure to tobacco smoke, and ambient and exhaled CO, as well as FEV 1 and FEF 25–75% were recorded for each child. Results: Ambient CO levels were threefold higher in the capital city than in the rural Aimag (0.63 vs 0.21 parts per million (ppm), P < 0.00005), while exhaled CO was twofold higher (0.94 vs 0.47 ppm, P < 0.00001). Rural Mongolian children were 6 cm shorter on average than urban children. However, when adjusted for age and height, FEV 1 was 140% of predicted in rural children compared with 106% of predicted in urban children ( P < 0.00001). There was no significant difference in small airway expiratory flow (FEF 25–75% ; 104 in urban children, 100 in rural children, P = 0.63). Conclusions: ‘Normal’ FEV 1 was actually 40% higher in rural Mongolian children than in urban children, suggesting that the FEV 1 of apparently healthy children living in urbanized societies may in fact not be normal, but may instead reflect the deleterious effects of air pollution in cities, as indicated by increased levels of both environmental and exhaled CO.